Call My Name
by MaChaChao
Summary: Rebecca Chambers and Claire Redfield are about to find out that leaving the past behind is no easy feat. But facing the memories may be more difficult than fighting zombies. HIATUS
1. Chapter 1: Rebecca

A/N: Ah, my first RE fic on this site. Joyous! I've written stories for this franchise before but I've always been a little hesitant about presenting them. RE fans are crazy people. They are also very protective of their favorite characters. So, for the sake of keeping my head, I ask you politely to just enjoy the story. I don't want to hear about how I'm deviating from the storyline, etc. This is for entertainment purposes, not to become RE canon. Take a deep breath and relax...

This story will rely heavily on the events of RE0 and RE:CVX. If you aren't familiar with either of these (to which you have my pity...they're both great games), I suggest reading Thomas Wilde's and Dan Birlew's plot synopsis at GameFAQS. Its pretty stellar. Its also insanely sarcastic...and I'm rambling.

Disclaimer Info: See my profile page.

* * *

**Chapter One - Rebecca Chambers **

**My Guardian Angel**

"Get a doctor down here! This man is bleeding to death!" Several nurses frantically tried to stop the man's massive cut, but his vitals continued to drop. There was no information yet on how it happened. At that moment, it didn't really matter. His life was in danger and they would save it by any means necessary.

Seconds later, a young woman appeared and pushed a nurse out of the way. Her face was unmoved by the scene in front of her. "What happened?" she asked as she applied pressure to the man's arm.

"We don't know. Some kind of accident in the woods."

The woman nodded and began shouting orders. "I need this man hooked up to an IV pronto! Someone get blood ready for transfusions. You," she pointed to another nurse who had just rushed into the room, "get my partner down here immediately for help. Go!" They all scattered.

The bleeding man suddenly came to and started screaming like a banshee. One of the nurses grabbed his good arm to hold him down. "What's going on?!" he cried amidst his wailing.

"You've had an accident," the doctor said, trying to stop the flow of blood. "Do you remember what happened?"

"I…I…" He lapsed into unconsciousness again. The doctor continued to work on his arm as the staff around her frantically carried out her orders.

Between the victim's bouts of pain, another doctor came in to assist. A few strands of his snow white hair fell in his face, but they failed to cover the lines of worry that had formed on his brow. "What caused that?" he asked, pointing to the man's arm. He was already checking his vitals and assessing the situation.

"No clue," the woman said. "He's been in and out of consciousness since he came in. The bleeding is slowing but won't stop. He needs surgery."

"The artery needs to be repaired," the older man said in agreement. "Is there a room available?" One of the nurses nodded. "Get him in there immediately. Did you request blood for transfusions yet?"

"Yeah. They should be ready."

"Good. Let's get this man in there now before we lose him."

She nodded. The two doctors wheeled the man into surgery, undaunted by the monumental task before them.

Luckily for both the hospital staff and the man in question, quick action and sharp thinking had prevented more blood from being lost and proving fatal. They expertly repaired the damage to his arm and set him on a series of transfusions to bring him back to normal. Over the course of an hour, the two were nonstop and unwavering in their dedication to their patient. Only when he was in stable condition and resting peacefully did Rebecca Chambers opt to take a break.

Shedding her bloodstained scrubs, she wandered into the break room and collapsed on a couch. The adrenaline was starting to wear off. She let out a long sigh and leaned back on the cushions, closing her eyes.

"Hey Becca! Did that guy make it?" She opened her eyes to see her friend, Rachel Evans, leaning over her. Rachel had been a nurse at the hospital for a year now and had immediately attached herself to Rebecca. She had said it was because they were the same age. But the doctor knew better; her friend's bubbly personality found balance in her own steadiness and calm demeanor.

Rebecca sat up and Rachel joined her on the couch. "Yeah, he made it. He was lucky someone brought him in when they did. Otherwise, he might have bled out before we could help him."

"I heard it was bad. Like, blood everywhere!" Rachel's eyes went wide. Her look was almost comical.

"Yeah, it was serious. But we managed. Doctor Engal is a great guy to have on your team when sometime like that happens."

"But you're good, too. I mean, people talk about it all the time, how young you are to know so much."

Rebecca shrugged. "I pick things up quickly."

"It doesn't change that you're only twenty-nine. Most doctors don't even get out of med school until they're this age."

"So I'm advanced for my age. Big deal."

Rachel shook her head. "That's not the point. Haven't you heard the rumors? You know, the ones people used to spread about you when you first came here."

"The ones about how I cheated through my exams because there's no way someone could become a doctor at my age? Or how the only reason I get promoted is because I sleep my way up the ladder?" Rachel nodded, her eyes still wide. "No one bothers to account for my experience or my credentials. I promise, they exist and they're legit."

"Oh, I know that," Rachel said, tossing her blonde hair back. "I just…"

"What?"

"Well, what are your credentials exactly? No one seemed to know when I came here besides the head staff, and they won't talk about them. Did you work for some kind of secret service?"

Rebecca laughed. "Been reading too many crime novels lately?"

"I can't help it! I love a good mystery every now and then. Of course," her eyes drifted towards the window, where the sun was beginning to drop lower in the sky, "nothing beats the stories told about that incident in Raccoon City."

"That was ten years ago," Rebecca said curtly.

"You never want to talk about that. Why do you get upset when people mention that place?"

"I lost people that I knew there."

"Oh!" Rachel cried, quickly placing her hands over her friend's. "I'm sorry! I had no idea you knew people in Raccoon City. Was it…was it really as bad as the news and the stories say it was?"

Rebecca glanced at her watch. She was due to check on her latest patient, and she needed to make her rounds before another emergency hit the hospital. She stood, but turned to Rachel before leaving. The nurse's eyes were still brimming with curiosity. "You'll never know how bad it was, and I hope you never do."

She didn't wait to see her friend's reaction as she wandered back into the busy hallway. Doctor Engal was waiting for her. "Did you catch your breath?"

"Yeah," she answered, offering a small smile. "How's he doing?"

"Good. His condition has improved, and he's come back to consciousness. Would you like to see him?" She nodded and he led her through the maze to where the man was resting.

She was glad to see that his color had returned and that his arm was no longer a fountain. After a quick check of his chart, she walked into the room and sat down nearby. "Neil Aikins. You're lucky to be alive, sir."

Neil nodded weakly. "Did you…find out what hap-happened?"

She held up her hand to calm him down. "You need to relax. You've been through enough. And no, we've not found out what happened. The police are looking into the area where you were found. Seems like you had a guardian angel on your side today."

He chuckled, wincing in pain. "Yeah. I had two…two more here. Th-thanks."

"I'm just doing my job, Mr. Aikins. Now you need to do yours - rest. I'll check on you later."

"Wait." She paused and noticed that he was looking at her neck. "What…what…"

She reached up and touched her collarbone. The metal chain she always wore around her neck had slid out from under her white coat. She quickly tucked it back in. "Its nothing."

"Seems rough for a…tiny th-thing like you."

Despite herself, she smiled at him. "Its my good luck charm," she said.

"May I?"

She hesitated. No one else in the hospital knew that she wore this. Jewelry beyond a wedding band was prohibited, especially for the trauma staff. Well, that wasn't entirely truthful. Rachel knew about it because they often hung out after work. Doctor Engal knew about it, too, but he had worked with Rebecca long enough to know it was harmless. She was careful to hide it.

In the end, she gave into Neil's pleading look. Gently, she slid the chain out from under her coat and held it out to him. Two dog tags hung on the end. Neil squinted as he tried to read them. "Can't…make it out. Are they y-yours?"

"No. But I've had them for ten years now."

"Who's are they?"

Rebecca quickly put them back where they belonged and winked at Neil. "Let's just say they belonged to my own guardian angel."

Neil chuckled again. "Then I won't pry."

"Get some rest. Make sure to press the call button if you need anything." Neil nodded and she left the room.

The rest of her shift went on without a hitch. The only other major patient was a young man who had been shot by a policeman. She cleaned him up and bandaged his arm while he was handcuffed to the bed. As usual, Rebecca maintained her calm composure. But the sight of the handcuffs, as had happened many times before, only made her more aware of the cool metal that touched her skin beneath the coat.

* * *

It was around one a.m. when Rebecca finally made it to her apartment. Neil Aikins had continued to make progress throughout her shift, and the gunshot victim had been recovering nicely. She grinned as his insults rang through her head. It hadn't mattered that she had saved his arm; she was working with the police and that had made her an enemy. Shaking her head to herself, she threw her keys onto the side table and headed into the kitchen.

She ate her dinner silently as she sorted through the mail and checked the paper. A couple of bills and a postcard from her mother, wishing her daughter was there with her in Hawaii. The stock market was recovering from some recent activity. Tomorrow would probably bring rain. Finding nothing of interest, she flipped on the TV to the news station. Most of the stories had to do with activities in her town. There was a brief clip about the boy who had been shot, saying that he had robbed a convenience store at gunpoint and opened fire on the cops. She giggled to herself as they played the footage taken from inside the store. His gun skills had clearly come from too many arcade trips.

It was a ritual that she practiced every night, and it hadn't changed much from when she first started it back in 1998. After everything that she had been through, who could blame her for wanting to keep herself informed? True, if she had remained a member of S.T.A.R.S., all she would have had to do was show up for work. But after the mansion incident, she couldn't bring herself to continue with a career in law enforcement. She wouldn't have made a good cop anyway.

But the news stations on TV were nearly as reliable as her colleagues would have been. The downfall of Umbrella had been a regular feature on everything from local to national and international stations. Hell, her town had implemented an "Umbrella Watch" segment for a while as new reports had come in. Soon it had been followed by WilPharma, another pharmaceutical conglomerate that tanked after an incident several years ago. Rebecca had panicked about it briefly, but it had gone away much faster than Umbrella had.

She leaned back on her sofa and turned off the TV. A part of her wished she had kept in contact with the team. But after the nightmare in the Spencer mansion and the following events of Raccoon City, everyone had went their separate ways. Last she'd heard, Chris and Jill were working for another organization, doing pretty much the same thing they'd always been doing. Barry had gone with them for a time. A couple of other names had floated around with regards to the infestation, but she'd never met them. All of them were still alive, as far as she'd heard.

Exhaustion finally hit as the clock tolled 1:30. She readied for bed and turned out the light. Before she laid her head down, she slipped the dog tags off of her neck and placed them on the nightstand. The red light from her clock reflected off the silver chain. She looked at them for a second, memories flashing through her mind. After a few seconds, she closed her eyes and whispered, "Good night, Billy."

Rebecca had only been asleep for a few minutes before the nightmares came. It was the same every night. A train crash. Leeches crawling on her body. Zombies attacking her from all angles. Barely making it to the helicopter before the explosion.

She jerked herself awake. A glance at the clock told her it was 5:03. A faint light was visible outside. "Goddamn," she whispered to herself, wiping the sweat from her forehead, "am I not allowed to get a full night's sleep after ten years?"

Something cool touched her skin. At some point during her nightmare, she had grabbed the dog tags and was clutching them in her hand. As she relaxed, they slid onto her arm. Rebecca picked them up and held them close to her face. _Billy Coen _was still visible in the dim light from the clock. "I hope you're having better dreams than me," she hissed to the metal tags.

Replacing them on the table, she rolled over and tried to sleep some more. The nightmares from the train, the facility and the mansion were a common enough occurrence. It was a matter of shaking them off and reminding herself that she'd made it out alive. Still, she couldn't understand why she'd woken up with Billy's tags in her hands. "Oh well," she mumbled, sleep already reclaiming her.

The sun rose completely to find a still sleeping Rebecca. It was the first time it had happened in a while.


	2. Chapter 2: Claire

A/N: Thanks to everyone who read my first chapter. To clear the confusion that some people have messaged me about, the chapters will alternate between Claire and Rebecca for most of the story. And yes, the real action starts soon. I promise.

This chapter is for Claire Burnside267, because she is awesome...and she was my first review. Cue the trumpets!

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**Chapter 2 - Claire Redfield**

**One More Year**

A young girl was bouncing up and down at the window, pointing her finger wildly at something outside. "Mama! She's here! And she's got presents with her!"

Kristen White sighed as she watched her daughter squeal with delight. She was the one good thing that the middle aged woman had left in life. So much had been taken away from her over a decade ago. It was in moments like these that Kristen remembered the good in her world. She had experiences loss, yes, but there had been gain as well. Others who had been involved in the madness of 1998 would do well to remember that.

The doorbell rang, and Vicky threw the door open before Kristen could move. "Claire!" she shouted. "You're back!"

The woman at the door laughed. "You bet. And I brought you something." She handed Vicky a wrapped box, sending the child into another fit of excitement before she ran off to her room.

Kristen shook her head. "She thinks you're the only one who remembered it was her birthday today. Besides myself, of course. She was worried that you'd miss the party."

"She's a sweet kid. I couldn't miss out on her big day."

"You're much too kind. Can I get you some tea?"

"That would be wonderful." Kristen ducked back into the kitchen as another delighted shout came from upstairs.

Claire Redfield laughed again as she sat on the plush couch. Everything in the White living room reminded her of the so-called American Dream. The colors were a montage of red, white and blue against country-style furnishings. A piano was shoved up against one wall with an array of pictures on top. Most of them were of a young boy dressed in a baseball uniform, a bat casually slung over his shoulder. A handful of books were thrown on a shelf opposite the piano. Lacy curtains let in plenty of light, and when they moved in the breeze it looked like shadows were playing across the walls.

Kristen returned a minute later with the tea and sat across from Claire in an old rocking chair. "So, I hear you've been keeping yourself busy."

"Blame my boyfriend," Claire said sarcastically.

"You give that company too much credit. A boyfriend would give you more praise than TerraSave."

"One would hope. How have things been here? Vicky seems well adjusted to country life."

"Yes," Kristen said, taking a sip of her tea. "But then again, she'll bloom wherever she's planted. She's been doing well in school, too. The teachers all love her."

"You'd be hard pressed to find someone who didn't fall in love with her immediately."

There was another thump upstairs. "What exactly did you get her for her birthday? Elephants?"

"No," Claire said. A devilish grin spread across her face. "Do you remember the last time I took her to the mall? She came back ranting and raving about the animals in the pet store and how badly she wanted one. I know you're allergic, so I got her the next best thing."

"Which is?" There was a loud meowing sound from upstairs, and Kristen threw her head back in laughter. "You got her a fake kitten?"

"I prefer the word 'animation' to 'fake,'" Claire answered. "I promise there's a switch that will turn off the meowing. You'll have to make sure she doesn't keep dropping it though. Otherwise you'll have to cave in and buy her a real one."

Vicky flew down the stairs and bounded into the living room. The tabby cat in her hands was purring incessantly. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she said to Claire, throwing her arms around the woman's neck. "This is the best birthday present ever! Mom, did you see?" She thrust the cat into her mother's face.

"Yes, I see. Now take your new pet outside and run around a little. Claire and I have things to talk about."

"Okay." The girl gave a fake pout but headed outside.

Claire was still smiling. "Maybe I should have talked to you about it first."

Kristen waved her free hand around. "No, its perfect. I'll just have to warn my husband before he returns. Don't worry, hun, he's not due home for another few hours."

"Why so late?" Claire asked.

"He knew you were going to be here."

Claire nodded in understanding. She wasn't hurt by the woman's words. Larry White was a wonderful man and had been a rock for TerraSave shortly after its creation. But she had some issues with his current job. It wasn't even the work that he did, really, but more about the painful memories it reawakened in her mind. "Is he going to miss Vicky's party?"

Kristen shook her head. "No. Since you volunteered to help set up her party, I thought I would make him clean up. You'll be long gone by then." She glanced at the clock and sighed. "Most of the food is ready. I just need the dining room to be prepped. Do you think you can handle that?"

"Putting up decorations? No sweat." The two women laughed. The true meaning of the question wasn't lost on either of them. At least they could afford to joke about it now.

They chatted about a few other things before Kristen went off to finish the cake. Claire headed into the dining room. Like the rest of the house, it was overflowing with patriotism. Expensive china was displayed proudly in a cabinet that took up most of one wall. More lace curtains covered the windows and spilled light onto a long table. Claire's favorite part of the room, though, was the wall of pictures.

Some of them went as far back as the seventies, a few were more recent, and a couple black and white photos dotted the corners. The one in the center was of the White family. Larry and Kristen smiled happily at the baby girl in their arms, leaving no room for anyone else in the picture. Next to it was a picture of the boy from the living room, grinning proudly in a graduation cap. Around them were photos of Vicky from infancy to her current age. There was Kristen laughing as her husband squirted her with a water gun, and next to that was Larry covered in flour from his attempt at baking. They made Claire smile and evoked a tinge of jealousy.

It was in the photos on the edge that marred the happiness found in the center. One picture always stirred sadness in Claire. It was a photograph taken back when Larry and Kristen were engaged. On one side was Kristen and her siblings - two sisters and a brother. On the other was Larry and his two little brothers. The edges of the picture were burnt and, if one looked closely, had traces of blood. It was the only photo that had survived the slaughter of Raccoon City.

"Staring at my wall again?" Kristen asked, standing in the doorway. She had a sad smile on her face. "You're the only one who looks at that picture with any meaning."

"I remember how hard it was to get it," Claire said. "I admire the strength it took to put it up here."

"We miss them dearly." Kristen moved next to Claire and dragged her finger across the glass.

"At least they're in a better place."

Kristen chuckled. "You always know the right things to say. TerraSave is lucky to have someone like you working for them."

Claire noticed a tear forming in the woman's eye, and gave her a quick hug. "Hey, don't worry about it. I may not have lost family in the tragedy, but I suffered right along with everyone else."

"I know." Kristen dashed the tear from her eye and laughed. "I should be saving these for the party." She hurried out of the room and back to her baking.

Tearing herself away from the pictures, Claire grabbed a roll of streamers and began stringing them from the corners of the room. Things like this reminded her of why she continued to work for TerraSave. Sure, she had witnessed the horror of Raccoon City first hand, but she had survived. Even better, her brother and his friends had escaped unharmed, and her partner during the tragedy was still alive and kicking. But others were suffering from different kinds of wounds. People like the Whites, who had lost all of their family to the outbreak of the T-Virus, still needed help. There was nothing so tragic as knowing that the ones you loved had become bloodthirsty zombies and nothing could have saved them.

Maybe it was her own experiences that made it easy for her to sympathize with them. Maybe it was the ironclad will and determination that all the Redfields seemed to posses. Or maybe it was Claire's way of showing Umbrella and all its affiliates that they couldn't destroy people as easily as they thought. Whatever it was, she would continue to help those affected by biohazards around the world until the threat was eliminated.

* * *

By the time all of the decorations had been put up and the cake had been finished, guests had started to arrive. Most of the children ran outside to play with Vicky, leaving the adults to congregate on the back porch. Several of them knew Claire. One of TerraSave's goals was to bring other families of the tragedies together, so she had been instrumental in helping people reconnect with each other. In fact, about half of the mothers there had crossed paths with Claire at some point during the healing process.

"I heard about your present for Vicky," one of them said as Claire helped herself to a drink. "An excellent idea, although it might take some convincing to get her mother to replace the batteries."

Another one of them laughed. "All Vicky has to do is pout and Kristen will have that mechanical cat up and running before she can smile."

"Are you sure about the sound switch, Claire?" Kristen asked. "I couldn't find one. That cat will drive me mad before the night is over."

Claire reached into her pocket and waved a screwdriver around. "I made some adjustments earlier. The switch is in the instruction manual, but I figured it couldn't hurt to take a precaution."

That got another laugh out of the women. Claire may have been the youngest one there, but her skills in mechanics and electronic repair far exceeded people twice her age. _Okay_, she thought, _so some good things came out of the outbreaks_.

As usual, the conversation turned to the Raccoon City tragedy and what was going on now. Claire had never been bothered by the conversations. She dealt with the aftermath on a daily basis, after all. She wouldn't have made a good employee for her company if the talk annoyed her.

"Where's your brother now?" One of the older moms asked. "I hear he's with the B.S.A.A."

"He's on a mission in Africa," Claire answered.

"Africa! Wow, he must be excited."

Claire shrugged. "I think his work is starting to wear on him. Every time I get an email from him, it's the same thing. Is it all worth fighting for? Leon's asked the same thing."

"Maybe they should try doing what you do," another suggested.

Kristen laughed. "Honestly, can you see Chris Redfield laying down his weapons and listening to the crying fits of women like us? Good Lord, he'd have a field day!" Kristen had seen a picture of the siblings once, when Claire had first mentioned her story. After her initial shock over the sheer size of Chris, Kristen had remarked that the day he stopped fighting would be the day bioterrorists would finally take over the world.

"Leon said something like that once," Claire said. "He said that I chose the path of rescuer, that my work was something they could never do. Honestly, I think it all worked out for the best."

"What, no more desire to chase your brother all over the world and save countless lives with your skills?"

Claire chuckled at the woman. "I've had enough guns pointed in my face and zombies clutching onto my arms for one lifetime. Besides, I'm still saving lives. I'm just not on the front lines anymore."

The phone rang and Kristen went inside to answer it. The other women continued to chat until she poked her head back outside. "Claire, that was Larry. He's on his way home."

"Aww, I'm going to miss the cake." But she smiled anyway, said a quick goodbye to the other moms and to Vicky before running back inside. Claire grabbed her keys and hugged Kristen. But by the time she reached her car, a pickup truck was already pulling into the driveway.

She stiffened a little as Larry White got out of the driver's seat and slammed the door shut. "Oh, hello Claire," he said as he noticed her. "How's the party been going?"

"Its been a hit. You're just in time for cake."

He smiled. "Good. That was the goal. Are you sure you don't want to join us?"

She shook her head, forcing a grin. "No thank you. I need to get back home anyway. I'm sorry to leave you with all those women though."

"I think I'll survive. Have a good one, Miss Redfield."

Larry turned to walk into the house, giving Claire a full view of his work uniform. He had worked in correctional facilities for most of his life, including the jail located in Raccoon City. In a twist of fate, he and his wife had been on vacation when the outbreak happened, so he had been forced to find a new place to work. Ever since, he had been doing well at his new jail and had been a huge contributor to TerraSave early on.

Claire couldn't hate Larry. In reality, she couldn't even hate his job. She carried a great respect for law enforcement and those who could do his kind of work day in and day out. If she was being honest with herself, the part that bothered her was the uniform he now wore. She scoffed at herself as she got into her car and started the engine. Zombies, killer alligators and raving Tyrants she could handle. But oh no, a work uniform would give her nightmares until her dying day.

Pulling away from the curb, she made her way across town and back to her own apartment. There had to be something to burn out that memory from ten years ago. Honestly, she had overcome every other obstacle and nightmare she'd had since 1998. So why did the fact that Larry White's uniform was nearly identical to those worn on Rockfort Island continue to haunt her?

And yet, she knew what the answer was before she reached her destination. It wasn't the uniform or the island or the tragedy she'd found there. It was the man she had let die there, unable to save him in time. That was the one memory she'd never be able to erase.


	3. Chapter 3: Rebecca

A/N: Thanks again to my readers and reviewers, especially Claire Burnside267 and Drackwolf. I'm so glad people are enjoying the story. The action starts to pick up now as Rebecca finds herself in an eerily similar situation and Claire...well, her problems start popping up in the next chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 3 - Rebecca Chambers**

**To Protect And Serve**

Neil Aikins had made significant improvement overnight, but his arm was still a bloody mess when Rebecca checked back in the next day. Still, his mood was better and he greeted her warmly when she walked into his room. "Do you get any sleep?" he asked. "You l-look exactly the s-same as you did yesterday."

She grinned back at him as she checked over his injured limb. "I'm a trauma doctor, Mr. Aikins. We don't need sleep. Besides, the nurses told me that you just woke up a few minutes ago. You've been asleep for over twelve hours now."

"Twelve hours?" His eyes went wide with surprise. "G-guess I needed s-sleep."

"After an accident like this," she said, holding up his arm, "you need all the recovery time you can get."

Neil opened his mouth to say something back when gunshots rang out in the hallway. The alarms went off immediately as screaming reached her ears. Seconds later, Rachel threw open the door and came in while the chaos continued outside. "Becca!"

"What's going on?" the doctor shouted, gently putting Neil's arm back on the bed. She had already reached underneath her jacket for her own pistol.

"That kid from yesterday is loose and opened fire and…you have a gun?!"

"There's no time! Where is he?" Without waiting for an answer, Rebecca leaned up against the door and peered out the window. The young man had Doctor Engal in a headlock and was waving his gun around. Nurses were frantically trying to get out of the way. A lone cop was at the other end of the hallway, pointing his own gun at the kid but unable to get a clear shot. "I'm going out there."

"No! You have to stay here where its safe!" Rachel's nails were digging into Rebecca's arm.

"I'm going. You stay in here with Neil."

"But…you'll get yourself shot."

"I've got a better shot than that cop. Besides, this won't be the first time the odds are against me." She opened the door and slid out into the hall.

The kid jumped and backed towards the desk, away from both Rebecca and the cop. "Put down your fucking gun or I blow his brains out!" he shouted. Doctor Engal was white with fear. It didn't seem to matter that Rebecca, the youngest doctor on the staff list, was now standing in front of an armed man with her pistol aimed expertly at him. As always, she remained unmoved.

"What's your problem?" she asked. Her voice was calm and steady.

"People like you! You think you can drag my ass in here and tell me what to do and then haul me off to jail? Fuck that! Put your gun down and let me walk, and the doctor lives."

"I don't think so."

The kid smirked. "I thought doctors weren't allowed to carry weapons."

"I have a gun license and special permission."

"Oh really? Hah, I bet a bitch like you never fired a weapon in her life."

Rebecca simply took aim and pulled the trigger. The bullet grazed the skin on his good arm, but it was enough to make him release his grip on the doctor and drop his gun in surprise. Before he even hit the ground, the barrel of her gun buried itself in the hair around his temple. He froze. "I've had more target practice than you'll ever know," she whispered.

The kid simply nodded, and the cop down the hall quickly took him into custody. She didn't bother bandaging his arm. The wound was superficial, just as she had planned. The bleeding had already slowed to a trickle. By the time it had stopped completely, seven other officers had shown up to respond to the call. Rebecca pointed to the room where the kid had been kept overnight. One of them promised to station two guards outside of his room until he was well enough for a jail cell.

Amidst the chaos, Doctor Engal's color and composure returned and he pulled the young doctor aside. "Rebecca, thank you. It was my fault he escaped. I wanted the cop to remove his handcuffs so I could get a better look at the wound and he attacked us both."

"I'm just glad everyone's okay," she said.

"They're going to want a report of what happened. Go and finish your check on Mr. Aikins before they track you down. I'll give them my witness statement first." He gave her a wink before wandering down towards the police. Rebecca shook her head as she headed back to her patient. Even after something like that, he kept his cool. It was one of the many things she admired about her colleague.

"Becca! Oh goodness, you're alright!" Rachel threw her arms around her friend's neck as soon as she opened the door. "I saw the whole thing. Wow, what a lucky shot, huh?"

Rebecca laughed. "Lucky? It went exactly where I was aiming."

"Wh-what happened?" Neil asked from his bed. His covers were askew. He had tried to get out of bed apparently, but his weakness and IV tubes prevented him from moving more than a few inches.

"Oh, I wish you could have seen it! Becca…I mean, Doctor Chambers shot that kid in the arm without giving him more than a scratch, and then held him until the cop hauled him off. I didn't know you could shoot like that!" Rachel's eyes were wide open again.

Neil's look was more concerned. "You kn-know how to f-fire a gun?" he asked.

"Yes." Rebecca picked his arm back up and continued with her examination. "I thought I wanted to be a police officer for years. I took the test and everything. But medicine turned out to be my calling instead."

"Wow, you as a cop? That's funny." Rachel was sitting on Neil's other side, checking his vitals and the monitors he was hooked up to. "I'm sorry, I just can't picture it."

"Do you s-still practice?" Neil was looking at his arm but his gaze was unfocused.

Rebecca nodded. "I try to go to the shooting range once a week. It's a habit I've never been able to break. Every time I go, I wonder why I feel the need to. Its not like I need to use my gun every day. And yet I still go." She reapplied the bandages and smiled at him. "And I'm babbling about nonsense. You need to rest."

"I'm fine," he said, but his eyelids were already drooping. "Will you…be…"

"I'll be back to check on you later. Get some sleep and push the call button if you need anything, Mr. Aikins."

A cop was waiting for Rebecca when she and Rachel left the room. They had almost walked right by him. Neil's chart readings were showing elevated heart rates but there was no immediate cause. The officer gently grabbed the doctor's arm, jerking them out of their conversation. "Have Doctor Engal look at it. He may want to run tests." Rachel nodded and hurried off. "What can I do for you, officer?"

"I need to talk to you about the shooting. Do you have a minute?"

"Sure." They wandered over to the conference room and sat down near the windows. Rebecca immediately launched into her story, explaining what she had been doing beforehand and what she had seen through the window. She verified what other nurses and the doctor had said previously, and then confirmed that the bullet wound was nothing more than a scratch. "What will happen to him now?" she asked after giving her statement.

The officer let out a long sigh. "He'll likely be taken straight to the prison. The arm that he came here for looks alright and his other arm, as you said, is fine, so we can have the prison medic take a look at him and finish whatever treatment he needs."

"Okay. I'll talk to my colleague and sign his release papers."

"Hold on, doctor." He held up his hand as Rebecca stood to leave. "I have a couple of other questions for you. Doctor Engal tells me that you carry a gun on your person all the time. Is this true?"

She nodded. "I have a copy of my license in the car if…"

"That's not necessary. He already showed me the copy here on file. I'll admit, I'm rather curious as to why a young doctor would need to carry a pistol around, and more curious as to why you're a good shot. Would you care to explain?"

Rebecca paused. She had hoped that her training wouldn't come up in conversation. After all, this wasn't the first time someone had brandished a gun around the hospital. Lunatics were monthly occurrences there. Other cops that had come to inquire before had been okay with her carrying a weapon, so long as she was registered and could provide proof that she knew how to use it. "Are you new to Stoneville?" she asked him.

"New to this precinct, yes," he answered. "I've spent time working with other organizations though. Why do you ask?"

"Cops around here don't usually care about why I'm packing."

He chuckled. "I'm not terribly surprised, considering your location. Now, will you answer my question?"

_Crap, I'm not going to get out of this one_, she thought. _Oh well_. "I've had some police training. My original career was going to be in law enforcement. As it turns out, I was better suited to other things. I still practice my shooting, though, and so that's why I carry a gun and know how to use it."

"Ah, I see." He scanned his notes again. A slight frown appeared on the corner of his mouth, as if something didn't seem right. "Hmm…Doctor Rebecca Chambers…" He suddenly jerked his eyes up towards her as something clicked in his head. "Wait, as in the former Officer Rebecca Chambers? Of the Raccoon S.T.A.R.S. Bravo team?"

"Um, yes. How did you figure that one out?"

"A buddy of mine tried to make the squad back when it was formed but didn't make the cut. After that whole incident with the mansion and the outbreak in the city, he said that was a blessing in disguise. I remember reading your name in a few of the articles."

She shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, we didn't exactly receive a warm welcome. So I quit the team and went back to medical school to finish my studies. Its all in the past now."

"How can you do it, just shrug off something like that?" The cop's stare was making her uncomfortable. "I would have nightmares for the rest of my life."

"The healing comes with time. Do you have anything else to ask me?"

He shook his head and finally turned away. "No, ma'am. I think you're the last one I needed. I'll contact you if I need further information. Oh, and before I forget, Doctor Engal wanted me to give you this." He handed her a piece of paper. "Have a nice day, doctor."

"You too." She watched him go before turning to the paper. Inside, he had scribbled a quick note.

_I contacted the on-call staff a few minutes ago. I'm taking the rest of the day off to recover. You should consider the same. Thank you again. Dr. E._

She grinned. Apparently he was more shaken up than she thought. When she reached the front desk, both on-call doctors were already getting ready for rounds. They insisted that she go home and relax after the shooting. Eventually she gave in. After checking on her patients and grabbing her keys, she headed down to the parking lot.

There was still sunlight left as she started the engine. No point in going home yet. There wasn't much to do. "Where should I go instead?" she mused out loud. Rachel was still working, so she couldn't grab a bite to eat with her. In fact, most of her friends were probably still at work. Both of her parents were on vacation, so visiting them was out of the question. "Wow, I really do have no life."

A thought struck her. Would it work? Sure, the trip was only twenty minutes long. There would still be enough light to stop by and be home before nightfall. Was it a good idea? Why not? She had been thinking about a trip like this for a while, but her schedule was never empty enough. Rebecca glanced at the clock. Yeah, this would be fine. Pulling out of her spot, she turned onto the highway and headed down the road._ At least there won't be much traffic_, she thought to herself.

The road was in poor shape. Annoying as it was, it made sense. No one needed to travel back and forth to Raccoon City anymore. The only time there was any traffic was near the end of September, when hundreds flocked to the crater during the anniversary of the outbreak. Stoneville was always busy during that time of year. But Rebecca had never opted to take part in the festivities. After all, it was still a viable T-Virus zone. Why the government allowed people to visit was beyond her.

But she wasn't planning on going to the city. She had never been a part of that outbreak. In fact, she'd been in medical school finishing up her work then. Chris and Barry had left. Jill, to her knowledge, had been there but survived. No, Rebecca had taken part in another outbreak. And that's where she was headed.

She turned off of the poorly paved highway and drove towards the Arklay Mountains. Some parts of the range were still considered virus-free, so people still kept vacation homes and whatnot in the area. Stoneville itself boasted a beautiful lake and wooded area where people would spend time. Most of the mountains remained abandoned, however. People didn't want to take any chances.

Rebecca herself had avoided returning here. These woods held too many memories that she wanted to bury. Yet there were positive ones as well. And that was why she had considered coming back for a while. She needed to remember the good things that happened as well.

Something jumped out in front of her car and she slammed on the brakes. Cautiously, Rebecca looked along the sides of the road. Nothing. It was probably a deer or something that she'd missed. Taking a deep breath, she inched forward again.

Glass shattered as the creature from before crashed through her windshield. Teeth snapped inches from her face. Screaming, she threw open the door and rolled out of the car. A wolf was growling at her from the driver's seat. She drew her gun and pointed it at the beast. _How the hell am I going to get home now_?

The wolf lunged at her from inside the car. Shots rang out as she put two bullets into its head, right between the eyes. It flopped onto the ground and stopped moving. "Great, just great." Rebecca inspected the damage from the front of her car. The glass was completely gone. Blood splatter coated the passenger's seat and part of the driver's seat. "Why did it go right through the car?"

Another growl came from behind her. She whipped around to see three more sets of eyes staring at her. The wolves, she noticed, looked starved. Maybe that was why they attacked her. Raising her gun again, she took aim and fired at one of them. She caught it in the shoulder, but she may as well not have hit it at all. They continued moving towards her.

"What the hell?" she hissed. "What's wrong with you?" They moved into the light from her car, and she bit back a gasp. "No…there's no way…"

Most of their fur had rotted off their bodies. Their eyes were a sickly yellow color, and several of their rib bones were visible in the headlights. It seemed that the T-Virus was still alive and kicking in the area. Hadn't the government sent teams to clean up all of this?

One of the wolves lunged at her. Again, her gun caught the beast in the shoulder but it shook off the blast and continued. She nearly emptied her clip into the bodies of the three wolves to no avail. _Now what?_

Her training came back to her as all three attacked at once. Rolling out of the way, she managed to kick one of them away from her and straight into the car. It shrieked as the glass shards cut through its body. Then she did the only thing she could do. She ran. The trees provided some cover but the wolves were hot on her trail. It didn't occur to her that there may be other infected creatures in the woods. All she knew was that she had to get away. Fast.

Something was in the distance. A cabin, from the looks of it. _Yes! _she thought. _Maybe I can get help and get the hell out of here_. A branch cracked behind her, and she turned in time to see one of the wolves jump at her. It caught the back of her shirt and brought her down under its weight. The smell of blood was overwhelming. It was going to be the last thing she remembered.

A gun went off. Warm liquid splattered across her face. She closed her eyes, thinking that the wolf had bitten her and that her end was here. But she felt no pain. Another shot rang out behind her. There was a yelp, and then another shot. The wolf on top of her went limp. Cautiously, she opened her eyes. There was a gaping hole where its right eye had once been. She shrieked and pushed it off of her.

"You okay?" a voice shouted to her. She rolled onto her stomach and pushed herself up on her knees. The cabin door was open. The light obscured the face of the person in front of it, but the shotgun in his hands was crystal clear.

"Yeah, I think so. Thank you." She checked herself over for bite marks. Blood covered most of her front, but her skin was still intact. She started to stand up and saw stars. Rebecca quickly sat back down. "Still dizzy," she mumbled.

"Need a hand?" She jumped. The man from the cabin had walked towards her and had his arm extended. She hadn't heard him make a sound. But he had killed off those zombie wolves, so he couldn't be all that bad. Her fingers locked with his as he pulled her to her feet. "Whoa," he said as she swayed a little, "don't push yourself."

"Thanks, I'm…" She paused as she looked down at the hand she was holding. Even in the fading light, she could make out the beginning of a pattern that ran the length of his arm. Jerking her eyes up, she met that intense stare that had plagued her dreams for ten years. There was no way he was still alive. And yet, he was unmistakable. She glanced back at the tribal tattoo before returning her glare to his face. "You've got to be kidding me…"


	4. Chapter 4: Claire

A/N: My apologies for getting this chapter up so late. My computer and I are considering a divorce, and I got my hands chewed up at work recently. Have you ever tried to type with bandages on most of your fingertips? Its hard. Very, very hard.

Thanks to all of my readers and reviewers on the last chapter, especially Claire Burnside267, Drackwolf, fallfromreality and Hazen S. Redfield. You guys are awesome. We are back to Claire in this chapter, and things are about to get a little complicated...

* * *

**Chapter 4 - Claire Redfield**

**A New Mission**

_Claire,_

_I'm preparing to head out sometime in early March. We're not sure how long the mission's going to take, but I'll try and send you something as soon as I can. I'm hopeful that this trip will answer some of those questions we've been looking for. _

_While I'm gone, I need you to do me a few favors. First, send Leon an email and tell him that I finished reading his report and that the B.S.A.A. now has a copy of it. I've never been able to talk to him. He seems a bit…aloof. But I know you don't have any problems, so I'll leave that in your hands. I also need you to look through some of the old Umbrella files on the drive I left for you. With any luck, we'll be able to figure out some kind of pattern where Wesker's concerned. We need to find him soon. You know the password._

_Stay safe, and I'll contact you when I get back._

_Chris_

Claire scanned through the rest of her email but found nothing exciting. A couple of spam files and a picture sent by another TerraSave family - the usual boring stuff. Closing the window, she turned her gaze towards the box that her brother had left before heading to Africa. He had been very quiet about its contents. She sighed. It wasn't anything new to her. Ever since his disappearance after the mansion incident, he'd been a different person. Chris had always been so outgoing and confident. She'd known something was wrong before she made it to Raccoon City to look for him. But it'd been clearest after their reunion on Rockfort Island.

She grunted and shook her head. She wasn't going to think about that right now. There were other, more important things to fill her head with than nonsense. Leon needed an update. Then the real fun would begin. Claire hoped there was information on that jump drive that her company could use. They had currently turned their attention to Tricell after their run-in with WilPharma. Maybe they would show up in one of Wesker's files.

Leaning forward, she began to type:

_Leon,_

_Claire here. I hope you're staying out of trouble, if that's even possible anymore. Chris wanted me to tell you that his company finished your report on the mission in Spain. Thanks again for giving him access to it. I hope neither of you have to use that kind of info again. Hope to hear from you soon, and take a damn vacation!_

_Claire_

A chuckle escaped her. Leon had probably never taken a vacation in his life. Well, at least not after the outbreak in Raccoon City. He'd been so carefree then, a rookie cop excited for his first day on the job. Everything changed after that. Hell, even she'd changed. Chris was right; Leon had become more aloof and distant. She wondered if that was just because of their shared experience, or if there was something else at work.

Their relationship seemed to be on solid ground after the incident in Harvardville a few years ago. Before that, she hadn't been sure if they would ever be okay. The two of them had argued before going their separate ways. It wasn't anything too serious, but it probably wasn't the best way to leave each other. Claire shook her head to clear her thoughts. She didn't really want to think about that either.

Instead, she opened the box that Chris had left and took out the jump drive. Plugging it into her computer, she let the files download and began sifting through them. Most of the files contained stuff she already knew. There were a few bits about the history of Umbrella, staff lists and ID numbers, as well as a couple of building maps.

She dug a little deeper and found the files on the various viruses that Umbrella had created. Again, most of the information was stuff she already knew. She shuddered a bit when she read through the contents of the G-Virus folder, remembering the night she had come across the transformed Doctor Birkin. Quite a few of the files he created were incomplete. Claire wondered how things might have changed if he had finished his research. Would his transformations have been more stable? Would they have been able to stop him at all?

"Not like it matters now," she mumbled to herself. She scanned the rest of the drive but found nothing on Wesker. His trail died shortly after the reports on the T-Virus were completed, according to the dates. There was no record of where he went afterwards. In fact, the only document that contained anything after that was a notice saying that he had died in the Spencer mansion. Chris was going to be disappointed.

Claire was about to close the drive window when a folder caught her eye. It was labeled "T-Alexia." Curious, she opened it and began sifting through the information there. It was the Veronica virus. Something wasn't right. How did Umbrella managed to get a hold of information on this virus? From what she remembered, studies on that virus had been conducted only by Alexia Ashford. Sure, Wesker had claimed that he had a sample of it, but he was working for a different company at the time. So why did Umbrella have a file?

_Scientist's Report, December 1983_

_We have received claims that Alexia Ashford, one of the most brilliant minds of our time at such a young age, has died. Rumors run rampant and everyone seems to believe that she finally succumbed to viral infection or something. This doesn't sit right with me. But no one will listen. This seems to be a theme among the Umbrella elite: wave off anything that smacks of superstition._

_I spoke secretly with one of the scientists working in the Ashford laboratory not that long ago. He mentioned something about a new version of the Progenitor virus that Alexia has created. The idea is fascinating, but the details are few and far between. It appears to be a virus that needs time to adjust. Otherwise, it acts - and kills - rapidly. I wonder what could be done to slow its progression enough to allow a person to adjust to such a virus._

_In theory, it sounds intriguing but looks impossible. I've been comparing it to Doctor Birkin's research on the G-Virus. So far, this viral agent also seems to work rapidly on test subjects. If we could discover a way to slow the virus's progression, we may be able to control its various forms to create a far more powerful weapon than the T-Virus. Birkin thinks that finding a suitable host would allow time for an embryo to grow and mature. But how would such a host be determined? Questions abound._

_If I get the chance, I would love to try and study these two viruses in their various forms. They seem so similar, the G-Virus and this Ashford creation. Could they be combined, I wonder? It might make for an indestructible weapon if something like that could be controlled._

Claire's stomach twisted in knots as she finished reading the report. A combination of the G- and T-Veronica viruses? Jeez, why not just drive a nuke into the center of the earth and destroy it that way? Even if it could be managed, why would anyone want to do something like that? The idea was disgusting.

The ringing of her cell phone brought her back to reality. "Hello?" she said as she began closing all of the windows on her computer screen.

"Claire? Its Brett. You got a minute?"

"Sure." Brett Hervard was another member of TerraSave, one of the team leaders for her particular division. His call could only mean another mission. "What's up?"

"I just got out of a meeting with some of the other big guns. There's a new assignment for us, but I wanted to clear it with you first."

"Why? Is it that important?"

He hesitated for a second. "The mission is, yes. It's the location that bothers me though. It'll take us back to the crater that used to be Raccoon City."

"What?" Claire hadn't been ready for that. "I thought it was still under quarantine."

Brett scoffed. "Says the government. People have been allowed to wander around that site for years now. But its still dangerous. There's no way to know if their cleanup crews stopped all of the viruses there. Stoneville, the next town over, even has special measures in place so they don't become the next blast site."

"So what's the problem?"

"The government wants to open it back up completely. Hell, they want to build memorials and everything!"

She could hear the annoyance in his voice. He was completely justified. "Why? It's the site of a massacre, not a zoo. People died because of Umbrella's negligence. How can they sanction such a thing?"

"We're not sure, but TerraSave wants us to go and protest. A few other groups are going to meet us there, I think. I want you with us on this assignment. You have the knowledge we need to show the government why this is a bad idea. Can I get you on a bus to Stoneville in an hour?"

"Sure. Whereabouts in town?"

There was some shuffling of papers on the other end of the line. "The bus should take you right to town hall. Its near the hospital. I'll meet up with you there."

"Okay. See you soon."

* * *

The sun was barely a line in the horizon when Claire got off of the bus in Stoneville. Brett was waiting for her, along with a few other members of TerraSave. "Hey, glad you made it," her team leader said. "I managed to get a few rooms in the hotel nearby. We gotta sit down and plan our strategy."

He led the group further into town. Despite the late hour, the streets were filled with people wandering around. Some were carrying shopping bags. A handful of children were peering into a window and pointing at something inside. Several were running, late to some kind of engagement. Claire hugged her jacket tighter to her. She thought it was too cold for all of these people to be out and about. But, then again, who was she to judge?

They reached the hotel and, after taking a minute to get settled, gathered around a table in one of the conference rooms. "So," Brett said, "everyone's aware of the problem by now. The government wants to reopen the ruins of Raccoon City and build some kind of memorial there. TerraSave is opposed to this, as well as other environmental and human rights groups. The plan is to stage a general protest when the first teams arrive later this week. But we also need to provide support for our claims."

"How many teams from our company are going to be there?" someone asked.

"Three, maybe four. Most of our people are trying to put down the remnants of the WilPharma incident or working on research against Tricell."

One of the other guys chuckled. "Guess we got the easy job. Beats getting stuck behind a computer or a phone all day. At least we get to see action." He cocked his head towards Claire. "Plus, we got the inside scoop on Umbrella."

"Easy, bud," she said back, grinning. "Most of the documentation I have is stuff the government already knows. I have access to my brother's old files, though. We should be able to come up with enough evidence to support our claims."

"Do you think the T-Virus is still floating around the site?" asked Brett.

She nodded. "Its very likely. The virus can spread though bodily fluid exchange, but cases have been reported of it transmitting aerially. I'm sure there are still creatures harboring it that live in the woods. Remember, Raccoon City wasn't the only location around here that suffered an outbreak."

"So don't go into the woods alone. Got it." The group laughed, albeit rather nervously.

"The T-Virus isn't our only concern," Claire said to the man. "There's the G-Virus as well. Its far more unlikely that it survived, but there's still a chance."

The room immediately fell silent again. "What's it do?" a woman asked.

"It needs a host to implant embryos into to keep generating G-Types. The original carrier, William Birkin, was killed. But there's no telling how many, if any, embryos he managed to implant before his death. If any G-Types escaped into the Arklay mountains, we're in far more trouble."

"Yeah, I read a file on that." Brett leafed through some of the documents he had brought. "The cleanup crews noted that they only found instances of the T-Virus. If this G one lives, it slipped by them. Any others we should watch out for?"

Claire shook her head and shrugged. "Not that I'm aware of. But Umbrella had underground labs going on for miles between the Spencer mansion and Raccoon City. Who knows what other kinds of viruses and bio-weapons they were working on? Anything could have escaped before the explosions."

"So, we have a lot to think about," Brett said. "I want everyone here to look through the information you already have and come up with an idea. We'll meet here again tomorrow at ten to discuss our options. Try to keep everything in mind when coming up with a plan. We don't want to take any chances with the government."

The group disbanded to their rooms for the night. Claire could feel a headache coming on. Of all the things that could happen, this was among the worst right now. Who in their right minds would reopen a contaminated site with the work half finished? And how come people had been allowed to go there for years? Didn't they close off the road?

She opened her laptop and set to work on sorting through the information on Umbrella again. Despite the death of the company, its legacy continued to give her grief. Even other pharmaceutical companies weren't causing this much trouble anymore. Why was Umbrella so persistent?

An idea came to her. If the government wanted proof that the viral contamination levels were still high, she could show them the files containing Umbrella's experiments in the mountains. They had thought all of it was destroyed with the mansion. But enough of the data had been transferred to external sources before the explosion. Naturally, Chris had gotten a hold of them. Perfect! There was evidence that some of their experiments had escaped into the woods. This meant that the whole region was still an active infection site. _Thank you Chris! _she said to herself.

Before she could pull the drive out of her pocket, the lights went out. There was some shouting down the halls but nothing else happened. "Just great," Claire mumbled to her black computer screen. "Does Umbrella continue to get in the way every time we make progress?" Letting out a grunt of impatience, she stood and headed back into the hallway.

Outside of the hotel, a tall woman stood eerily still. Her eyes were fixed on the window Claire had just been next to. A smile on her face, she turned back into the growing night around her. "Took you long enough," she whispered to herself. "Did you miss me, Claire?"

* * *

A/N 2.0: Yeah, I know. It's a bit of a stretch to assume that Umbrella workers would be in contact with each other between organizations, and then that one of them would have access to knowledge strictly contained on Rockfort Island and the Antarctica base. Keep in mind, though, that every Umbrella worker we meet in the series (besides Linda from Outbreak 2) is one-sided and psychotic, and they seem to have no problem betraying company secrets or wanting to bring it down. Not as much of a stretch anymore, huh?

Plus, if I was being really honest, I don't mind every RE style plot dodge. Some bother me more than others, sure. But I'm okay with some of them.


	5. Chapter 5: Rebecca

A/N: I finally have all my files back and my computer doesn't hate me anymore! Woo! So Claire's obviously in for a treat in the hotel, but Rebecca's going to be in over her head this time. Thanks to all of my readers and reviewers, especially those who have not given up on this story. I certainly haven't. You guys are awesome!

* * *

**Chapter Five - Rebecca Chambers**

**Reunion**

"I just…I had no idea you were still alive," Rebecca stammered as she cradled the mug in her hands. A fresh bandage was wrapped around her arm where she had caught a tree branch. But she couldn't get around the revelation standing in front of her. This was weird. Zombie wolves chasing her through the woods had nothing on this.

Across the table sat ex-Lieutenant Billy Coen, the man who had consumed her thoughts for a decade. He looked the same as he did the day they parted ways in the mountains. No one would have known he was pushing forty years old. Even the playful sparkle was still in his eyes, the one that had helped to keep her sane during their terrifying ordeal. "You were the one who pronounced me dead, remember?" he joked.

"You know what I mean."

"Yeah, yeah." He waved it off and stood from the table, grabbing a bottle from the fridge. Leaning against the kitchen counter, he pointed a finger at her bloodied jacket, which was draped over one of the chairs. "A doctor, huh? I figured you'd still be a cop."

She smirked, still warming her hands against the mug. "That option went out the window ten years ago. I told you that. I was never cut out to be an officer."

"You're more cut out for it than most people I know. Still, I guess you're the type of girl who needs medical knowledge over gun slinging knowledge." His eyes glanced at her injury before returning to her face.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Easy there, doll face."

"I see some things haven't changed. You still look at me like I'm a child." Rebecca turned her eyes back to the table. _And I still look at you like you're an angel_.

Billy made to say something but thought the better of it. "I don't think I could ever see you like that, Rebecca." She jerked her head up at the use of her name. "After what we went through…"

"I know. I'll admit, though, I really assumed you had either died or moved on. What are you still doing here?"

For a moment, he looked hesitant. The last time he had been unsure was the day he told her about his past; the day she realized he was innocent of his crimes. But, being true to his nature, he quickly masked it. Slinging his shotgun over his shoulder, he held his hand out to her. "Would you like to see?"

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Uh, okay. But why are you bringing your gun?"

"Protection. And you're out of bullets, so that gun's no good."

Rebecca frowned at his statement, even though it was the truth. She stood without taking his hand and followed him back outside. He led her around to the back of the cabin. It was a scene she hadn't been ready for.

A large pit was dug out of the earth, at least fifteen feet long in each direction and probably just as deep. It must have taken him weeks to do it. A crate was nearby containing something that smelled like gasoline. When she reached the edge, the smell of burnt and rotting flesh overwhelmed her. She couldn't see the bottom. But it didn't take much to imagine what was down there.

"After we separated, I wandered back to the crash site. I burned all of the papers that had my name on them and buried the remains of the soldiers who rode with me. Well, the ones that stayed dead anyway. Then I just…wandered some more. Eventually I found this cabin. Whoever lived here before was dead and unrecognizable. I made myself at home."

"But I'm sure it was dangerous. You could've gotten killed."

He chuckled. "Still worrying about me?" Her frown deepened and he laughed harder. "I had the same thought. So I started digging. It was supposed to be for the guy who lived here before, but I kept getting undead visitors. I found out that incinerating them was just as good as a bullet to the head. The grave got bigger. The attack today was the first one I've had in a good ten months though."

Rebecca faltered. "Ten months? You mean you've been doing this consistently for ten years?!"

"Yep, pretty much. It was the only thing I could think of doing. Kind of like repayment for the trouble they caused, and the help I received from others in the mountains."

Billy's stoic look returned. Rebecca resisted the urge to reach out and touch him. "So how have you been able to get supplies? I refuse to believe that you never have to leave the area."

"I make trips into town when necessary," he said, leaning on the shotgun. "When the money gets tight, I hire myself out as a handyman. No one in Stoneville knows about my criminal record."

_Except me_, she thought.

"Is that where you're living now?" he asked her.

"Yes. I haven't been there for more than a year though. I was working at a hospital in New York before I was transferred here. The move was…hard. I didn't want to be so close to this tragedy again."

He nodded, staring deep into the pit in front of him. "And yet, here you are."

"Here I am."

The pair stood there for a few minutes, reliving the incident that had brought them together in 1998. Rebecca could almost feel the leeches crawling on her skin again, that monster with the giant claw nearly taking her head off, Marcus attacking them as a creature…it had been enough to give her nightmares for the rest of her life. Yet there had been good things as well. She had survived along with Billy. They had kept their promise to each other and remained strong together. Maybe if they hadn't gone through that, she would have never survived the mansion incident.

Rebecca didn't realize she was cold until she felt Billy's hand on her shoulder. It was warm. "Hey, let's get back inside."

"Okay." They turned back to the cabin when something chirped at her side. Billy's hands raised his gun as she went instinctively for her own weapon. They looked at each other in their frozen poses.

"Some things never change," Billy said. He lowered his weapon and motioned to her pants pocket. "Are you gonna answer that?"

It was her cell phone. Embarrassed, she flipped it open to see Rachel's number on the screen. "Rachel? What's up?"

"Becca! Thank God. I tried your house and you weren't home and you haven't been answering your cell and…"

"Rachel! Calm down. What's the problem?"

There was some kind of shouting in the background. "Another patient came in with the same cut as Neil's a few hours ago. The doctors fixed his arm but he's unstable. He keeps ranting about monsters in the woods. Neil's condition hasn't been stable either. Doctor Engal is here and we need you back. I'm…I'm scared, Becca."

"Its okay," Rebecca assured her. Something about this was unsettling, despite her calming words. "I'll be there as soon as I can. Hang in there, alright?"

"Yeah, okay. Come straight up here when you get in. I'm freaked out."

"Call back if it gets worse." She hung up and turned to Billy. "I need to get back to the hospital. One of my patients is getting worse and there's a new one with similar symptoms. Its weirding out the staff."

Billy shook his head. "That's fine, but how were you planning on getting there? You said your car was busted earlier."

Damn details. "Well unless you have another idea, I guess I'm walking."

"In these woods? Not on your life, darling. We're taking my car."

She scoffed at him. "What do you mean 'we'? And how did you get a car?"

He held up a hand and dashed inside. A few seconds later, he reemerged with her things, both her handgun and his own, and a box of bullets. "So many questions! Here." He tossed her the blood stained jacket and led her back towards the front of the house. A pickup truck was parked under a tree nearby. He threw the rest of the items in the car and motioned for her to get in. "I'll drive. You reload the guns."

"I'm just going to check up on my patient, Billy. We're not going to war."

"Well pardon me for being worried. I've never had a gut instinct steer me the wrong way before, and this one's pretty strong. I hope that we don't need any of this. Just a precaution."

He brought the engine to life and drove back to the main road. Her car was still sitting there, glass shards littering the pavement. "Guess I'll come back for it later," she mused.

"Until then, you're stuck with me." Billy grinned at her before turning his eyes back to the road. Then his face became solemn. She wondered what was going through his mind right now. She also hoped it wasn't the same thing going through hers. The feeling that something was wrong plagued her. _I hope we're both wrong_, she thought as they sped down the road towards Stoneville Hospital.

* * *

"Doctor Chambers! Doctor Engal is waiting for you down the hall," one of the nurses said when she and Billy arrived. "He's looking over Mr. Aikins' and Mr. Roald's charts…" Her eyes wandered to Billy and the handgun that was hanging from his belt.

Rebecca rolled her eyes and leaned over the counter. "Former Marine. Old habits die hard. I promise he's harmless."

"If you say so," she said, not taking her eyes off of Billy.

"I'm going to check in with Doctor Engal and see what's going on," Rebecca said to him, ignoring the nurse's suspicious looks. "You stay in the lobby. And try to behave yourself."

He put his hands together in a gesture of prayer, a mocking grin on his face. "I'm hurt, doll face. I always behave."

She chose not to comment on that. "I'll be back as soon as I figure out what has the staff freaked out." He nodded and took a seat in one of the chairs as she disappeared into the hospital.

Doctor Engal was pouring over some papers in his office. " I hear we got another one," she said as she opened his door. He jumped a bit. "Sorry. I should've knocked. What's the problem?"

"This," he said, holding up a chart from Neil's room. "Right after we left, the nurses noted elevated heart rates and blood pressure levels. The doctors assumed, as did I, that it was a result of the shooting. But they continued for the rest of the day and into the night. This new patient, John Roald, is showing similar signs. But he's been far less coherent. I can't tell if its coincidence or not.

"There's also the problem of their injuries. John's was far more pronounced when he came in. The doctors managed to repair his arm as well, but its infected. Neil's is also showing signs of infection."

"What kinds of signs? And what symptoms are they showing?"

He shuffled through some more papers until he found the nurses' notes. "John's arm was secreting some kind of yellow pus, but in larger amounts than we normally find with an infected cut. They noted that his skin was also taking on a green color. He's been mumbling about strange creatures in the woods, but not from the direction of Raccoon City. One of the nurses told me earlier that John managed to bend one of the posts on the side of his bed, and another told me that his eyes look red.

"Neil's condition is by far the better one, but he's beginning to mumble as well. When the nurses were changing his bandage, they noticed that the skin around his cut looks rather green. Its also secreting the pus but in smaller amounts. I wonder if they were injured at the same time and Neil was the one we found first."

Rebecca shook her head. "I'm not sure. It looks like something attacked them and some bug got into their system. What have you been giving them?"

"The other doctors have them on painkillers and antibiotics until we can figure out what's wrong. I'm hoping we can flush out whatever's in their bodies before something else happens. And…and I'm concerned about what John's been saying. Maybe I'm just being paranoid."

"The events of 1998 have put us all on edge." She took a couple of the papers from his desk and stepped back. "I'm going to check in on Neil and take a look at John. I'll let you know if I notice anything else."

He nodded. "Just be careful, Rebecca. I'm considering a quarantine until I know more about what this is."

She gave him a thumb's up and left the office. As she made her way towards Neil's room, she noticed the pained look on most of the staff's faces. Was this really that bad? This was unsettling, yes, but was this really a cause for panic already? It only unnerved her more. She wondered what Billy would say about these new infections.

Rachel met her just outside of Neil's room. "Becca! Thank god, I was worried you'd never show. Neil's been asking for you all night. How come I couldn't get a hold of you?"

"I went to visit a friend. He lives in the woods, so the reception probably wasn't that good."

"Oh, okay." Rachel dropped the subject and led her friend inside. Neil's face was shiny with sweat and his arm looked swollen. But he smiled as Rebecca sat down next to him and began taking off the bandage. "Y-you came back. They s-said you w-went home."

"Doctor Engal told me to get some rest after the shooting. How are you feeling?"

"Sh-shaky. My arm f-feels funny."

She frowned. "How so?"

"It k-keeps twitching and I ca-can't make it s-stop…like s-something's moving in there,"

Rebecca finished unwrapping his arm and bit back a gasp. The skin had turned a sickly yellow-green color and the cut was oozing pus. As she held the limb, she could feel it pulsating. This wasn't printed in any medical journal she'd ever read. "When did this start?" she asked Rachel, who was leaning over her shoulder.

"Well, his vitals spiked after the shooting, remember? Then his arm started swelling, but it wasn't too bad. It was after Mr. Roald came in that he started getting worse."

"What's wrong w-with me?" Neil asked. His voice was hoarse all of a sudden.

"I'm not sure," Rebecca answered. "But we're going to figure it out. I promise. I need to look at this other patient before I can make any concrete decisions. Until then, we're going to try and flush this out of your system."

"Okay."

Rachel helped Rebecca to clean the wound and reapply the bandage, then followed her out of the room. "This is too freaky," she said. "What causes something like that?"

"I'm not sure yet. But if this new guy is any indication of what Neil might become, we need to figure it out. Fast."

Another nurse hurried towards them from down the hall. "Doctor Chambers, there's a man in the lobby asking for you. He wants to know what's going on."

"Tell him I'll be out as soon as I check on the new patient." She nodded and ran back the way she came.

"Who's in the lobby?" Rachel asked.

"The friend I went to visit. My car broke down and he insisted on driving me back."

"Ooh, his he cute?"

Rebecca chuckled at her friend. Naturally she would ask something like that. "Knock it off."

"Aha!" She jabbed a finger at Rebecca's face. "He is! You're so totally blushing right now! So, what's he…" Her question was cut off by a scream down the hall, followed by a roar. Rachel latched on to her friend's arm. "What was that?"

Rebecca was already running down the hallway, Rachel still clinging to her. Another scream echoed through the corridor. The doctor threw the door open in time to see a nurse fly from one end of the room to the other. John Roald, or what was formerly him, was tearing apart his room with his giant green arm. The rest of his body had turned the same color as Neil's. But with the exception of the injured limb, the rest of him was fine.

"Oh my god!" Rachel screamed as she saw the nurse slide down the wall. There was no need to check a pulse to know that she was dead. "What is that?" Her attention was now on John, whose arm was mutating into a killing machine. Spikes now jutted from the limb and a three fingered claw now replaced his hand. He turned his head at Rachel's screaming. His eyes were red and reptilian.

John turned his massive arm towards Rachel. The nurse sank against the wall in terror. Before it could reach her, however, Rebecca opened fire and pushed her friend away. "Rachel! Get the hell out of here! Evacuate the hospital and secure Neil!"

"What about you?"

"I'll be fine. Get moving!" She shot at John's arm again, which was still slinking towards her. Rachel flew out of the room before the creature could get to her. Rebecca focused her attention back to the patient. "John Roald? Can you still understand me?"

The beast paused for a moment. Then it let out another unearthly roar and shot its mutated arm out at her. She dodged and continued shooting at it. Rebecca tried to roll again as he attacked a second time, but the limb tripped her and sent her sprawling across the floor. Like lighting, it wrapped around her waist and hauled her into the air. _Crap, now what do I do?_ she wondered, unloading the rest of her clip into John's face.


	6. Chapter 6: Claire

A/N: And now we're back to Claire! This chapter is dedicated to all of you RE fans who had heart attacks from your first fight with Doctor Birkin in RE2 or RE:DC. I'm pretty sure that was the first time I ever swore at a video game character...ah, memories. Anyway, thanks again to all of my readers and reviewers. Your continued support is beyond awesome!

* * *

**Chapter 6 - Claire Redfield**

**A Familiar Foe**

"What happened?"

"Where's the power? It was fine a minute ago?"

"Someone get the owner of this place up here!"

Claire ignored the shouting in the hallway as she headed towards the main lobby. She couldn't help but chuckle to herself. Power failure followed her almost everywhere she went. Luckily for her, she had always been good at fixing the problem. Hopefully a trip to the circuit breaker was all she needed.

She bumped into Brett coming out of his room. "Where'd the power go?" he asked, to no one in particular.

"No idea, but I'm going downstairs to check it out."

"I'll come with you." The pair wandered downstairs to find the lobby empty. "Hello?" Brett shouted, his voice echoing loudly through the large room. "Where's the staff?"

A second later, the man from the front desk appeared. "Oh, you must be the people from TerraSave. I'm Greg, the owner of the hotel. Sorry about the power." He rubbed his balding head. "I'm not sure what happened. I'm no good with this kind of thing. One of the maids ran out to get an electrician."

"There's no need." Claire reached into her pocket and pulled out a tiny screwdriver, one that she always carried with her. "Today's your lucky day. Where's the breaker box?"

He pointed to a door behind the desk. A sign read: Staff Only. "Go all the way down the stairs and take a right. The box will be at the far end of the room. And take this," he said, handing her a flashlight. "You won't be able to see your hand in front of your face down there. Be careful."

"Thanks," Claire said. She turned on the light and headed downstairs with Brett in tow, leaving Greg behind in the lobby. He was right; the darkness was overwhelming. Even with the light, it was difficult to see more than a few feet in front of her. But they managed to find the box without too much difficulty.

Brett peered over her shoulder. "Hmm, nothing looks like it was flipped accidentally. Should we try a few of them anyway?"

"Might as well." They flipped a couple of the switches that were labeled. Nothing happened. Claire glanced down at the bottom and noticed that the main power cable was severed. "Well, there's our problem." She shined the beam onto the wires for Brett to see.

"Great. We need a whole new cable to get this up and running. Any ideas?" Something crashed to the floor behind them. Claire jerked around and turned the flashlight towards where the sound had been. A box had fallen to the floor. Then something crawled towards them from underneath it. It looked like a white slug, complete with a slime trail running behind it. "What the hell is that thing?" Brett hissed.

Claire looked around and noticed a large plank of wood up against the wall. She shoved the flashlight into Brett's hands and grabbed it. "Keep the light on it, whatever it is." He nodded. As soon as the creature turned away from the beam, Claire brought the wood down hard on top of it. There was a squeal and the slug exploded into a million, gooey pieces.

"That's so gross," Brett said, kneeling down next to it. "What do you think it is?"

"Whatever it is, it can't be good. We'll worry about the cable later. Right now, we need to get back upstairs." Claire took the flashlight back and led the way.

They reached the top of the stairs in time to hear Greg scream. Another creature was looming over him. Its skin was a yellowish green color and its broad shoulders nearly consumed the tiny head that rested on top of them. One arm was long and grotesque, sprouting a claw and spikes. The opposite shoulder was complete with a pulsating bulge. Claire knew immediately what was underneath it. "No…way," she whispered.

"What is it?" Brett asked again. "Will I be asking that question all night?"

"I hope not." Before she could move to help Greg, the creature swung its massive claw and tore the man's arm right open. Then it held its other arm over him and let some kind of yellow pus ooze out into the wound. Greg howled in pain. Then, Claire noticed, something white and eel-like appeared through the pus and made its way into Greg's arm. "It's a G-Type!"

"A what?"

"That creature is harboring the G-Virus. Remember how I told you it implants embryos into a host? Greg just became that host. We gotta kill it!"

"But how?" Brett protested. "We don't have any weapons."

The creature realized it had company and turned to the pair. Brett backed away, but Claire gripped the flashlight tighter and stood her ground. "Then we improvise," she said over her shoulder. Her eyes fell on a loose board beneath the front desk. She ducked down and ripped it up from the floor. Nails were still imbedded in one end. "Brett, you go and get the others out while I distract it."

"But what about you? I won't leave you behind to be killed."

"I've had experience fighting things like this."

Brett grunted. "I'm not leaving you!"

The G-Type roared and jumped over the desk, landing between Claire and Brett. Claire swung the wood with a loud cry and hit it in its bulging shoulder. "Go!" she shouted to her friend. "I'll meet you in the hospital. It should be safe there." The creature turned to try and swipe at her. "Hurry!"

Brett finally gave in and ran upstairs. The beast tried to pursue them, but Claire still had a firm grip on the weapon lodged in its shoulder. She tugged at it until it came free. The struggle sent the creature tumbling down the stairs.

Claire took the opportunity to rush over to Greg, who was panting in pain. "What…what…"

"Ssh, you need to preserve your strength. I'm going to get you out of here."

Greg violently shook his head. "No…too weak…to move…gah! My arm!" His limb began pulsating as more of the pus poured from his wound. "Where did…that…come from?"

"That's a G-Type, a creature that's been infected with the G-Virus. I don't know where it came from, but we need to get you some medicine. I still remember how to make the cure."

"Cure?" Greg's face lit up.

"Yes, but we need to hurry." There was a roar from the basement door. The creature had woken up from its tumble down the stairs. Claire helped Greg to his feet, careful to avoid the oozing cut. "Come on, lets get out of here."

He nodded as they headed towards the door. There was a crash behind them, and they turned to see the monster jump over the desk and run towards them. Claire barely had enough time to push Greg away from her before it jumped between them. She dodged the claw before it could tear her arm apart. This wasn't going to work.

"Behind…the desk…" Greg shouted from the other side. She quickly turned and ran back to where she had been before, the creature right behind her. Somehow, she managed to jump over the remains of the desk and duck before the G-Type could take her head off.

There, in one of the drawers, was a handgun. Two bullets were left. When the monster stuck its ugly face over the desk to try and bite her, she put them both in its head. It roared in pain and backed away. Its body began shaking uncontrollably. Claire, seeing an opportunity, ducked back out from behind her shelter and helped Greg to his feet again. "We need to move. Now."

"What's it doing?" Greg asked, looking at the quivering beast.

"I triggered another mutation, I think. It's the same thing that happened to Doctor Birkin when I shot him. Come on!" She half-dragged the hotel owner out into the dark streets as the monster's arm began to change.

When she was satisfied that they were safe, Claire helped Greg onto a bench and took off the sweater she had been wearing. "We need to get that covered so the infection doesn't get any worse." He nodded as she wrapped the garment around the wound and tied the sleeves together, halting the bleeding and oozing.

"How did you know…what that was?" Greg asked. He was still panting.

"I encountered it during the outbreak in Raccoon City. Something like that is impossible to forget."

"And you know…about an antidote?"

She nodded as she worked. "I had to make one for a little girl once."

Greg winced as she tightened the sweater around his arm. "Aren't you going to be cold?"

"Nah. Besides, I've been in worse weather. Unless we've somehow jetted to Antarctica, I'll be fine." She held out her hand to help Greg back to his feet. "Now lets get going. We don't have much time to get the infection treated."

He chuckled despite the pain. "Guess I lucked out…getting stuck with a woman who…knows so much."

"Its my job." She smiled, hoping to give Greg some confidence. In truth, this situation was making her much more nervous than she thought it would. There was something different about the way these G-Types were operating. The virus was uncontrollable. The host quickly, if not immediately, fell prey to its erratic nature. Yet somehow, the monster from the lobby maintained enough motor control and brain function to be able to implant an embryo into Greg's arm. Something was off.

Claire shook her head as they headed towards the hospital. _Isn't something always off when it comes to bioterrorism?_

The pair made it a block before they caught up with Brett and the other TerraSave members. They'd apparently taken the back door. Relief washed over Claire when she realized everyone in their group, as well as a few others staying in the hotel, had made it out safely. "Glad to see you're okay," she said as Brett hurried over.

"Same to you. I think we got everyone out." He glanced over Greg's injured arm. "Do you think the hospital is going to be able to fix that?"

Claire frowned. "Probably not, but I can. We need to move faster though. If the infection spreads to the rest of his body, he'll mutate into a G-Type. Then we're all in trouble."

"Why?" Greg asked.

"Either you'll kill all of us, or we'll kill you. There are no other options."

The entire group fell silent. In a matter of minutes, everything had come crashing down around them. The nightmare that had supposedly died with Raccoon City was now running around Stoneville. Unless they did something here and now, history was going to repeat itself.

Claire finally broke the silence. "Lets go before that thing chases us. If it gets into the hospital, we're beyond help."

"Your right. Come on, guys. Our mission here will have to wait." Brett moved to Greg's other side and took some of the weight from Claire. "Guess our new assignment is survival," he joked.

"Hey, I've done it three times now. I'll be damned if we go under this time."

With Brett's help, Claire and Greg were able to move much more quickly. They reached the hospital and filed in, letting out a collective sigh of relief. The nurse behind the front desk gave them all a puzzled look. "Can I help you?"

"This man's been injured and needs to see a doctor right away," Claire said, helping Greg forward. She carefully laid his bandaged hand on the desk.

There was a chuckle behind her. "Did you run out of Band-Aids?" a husky voice asked. She turned to see a man sitting in one of the chairs. His long, dark hair was slicked back, a couple of renegade strands falling over his dark eyes. A faded shirt barely covered his thick muscles and showed off a long, intricate tribal tattoo down his arm. In his hands was a gun.

"Who are you?" Brett said to the man rudely.

"What happened to him?" the man asked, waving his hand towards Greg's arm. He ignored the question.

Claire frowned at him. "He was attacked. This cut needs treatment." He simply shrugged and turned his gaze towards the door, deeper into the hospital. There was something unsettling about him, never mind the fact that he was carrying a gun around inside a hospital. And yet, she could sense something else about him, like there was more beneath the surface that he wasn't showing. Was that a good sign or a bad one? She couldn't tell.

The nurse took advantage of the silence to page one of the doctors. The phone rang a second later, and she only nodded to the voice on the other end. Sighing, she turned to the group. "A doctor will be with you shortly. Apparently there's a problem with one of the patients down the hall. As soon as that's cleared, we'll get him checked out."

"Problem?" The tattooed man's head shot up. "What kind of problem?"

"They didn't say. Its probably just an unruly patient. We get them all the time."

This, apparently, was not a good enough answer for him. "I need to know what's going on," he said, standing and walking towards the desk. Claire didn't realize how tall he was until he was right next to her. "If there's any kind of emergency…"

"Sir, you need to calm down," the nurse said. "Doctor Chambers said that she would be out as soon as the problem was solved. Please relax."

He mumbled something under his breath but returned to his seat. Curious, Claire transferred the rest of Greg's weight onto Brett and sat down next to the man. "What's wrong?" she asked him.

"What makes you think I have a problem?"

"You seem pretty concerned about someone in there."

He shrugged. "Lady, its none of your business." His eyes noticed something by her waist, and he chuckled. "You're packing, too, I see. You concerned about something as well?" A playful sparkle shot across his dark orbs.

"I believe in protection," Claire said. In her haste, she'd shoved the gun in her pocket. Now there were two armed people in the lobby. _Go figure._

"Same here." He turned the gun over in his hands. "I've seen things that only occur in nightmares. It never hurts to be overly cautious."

Claire leaned in and tilted her head. She knew there was more to this man than he let on. "Try me."

He laughed. "You'll think I'm crazy."

"You're an armed man in a hospital lobby. I already think you're crazy."

"Touché. Alright. You remember the stories from Raccoon City? The ones about zombies and monsters and the coming of the apocalypse? I've seen them. Not in the city, mind you, but in these woods. There's creepy shit that's been going on for ten years now, and I don't know about you, but I want to keep my head on my shoulders. I like living."

Claire's heart skipped a beat. "You were in the Spencer mansion," she whispered.

"No. I saw the explosion, but I wasn't in there when it happened. I was a mile or so away, fighting a different battle with a different kind of demon. But in the end, it doesn't matter what kind of creature you faced. All that matters is that you survived."

"I hear you loud and clear."

"Do you?" He eyed the rest of the group suspiciously. Some of them were watching their conversation, but Claire doubted they could make out what was being said.

"I do. I made it out of Raccoon City with my head intact, and virus-free for your information. I've also managed to escape other outbreaks in different locations around the world. Believe me, I know exactly what you mean."

His mouth twisted into a grin. He held out his hand. "The name's Billy."

"Claire Redfield. Glad to meet a fellow survivor."

"Glad to meet someone who doesn't take living in this area for granted. You got enough bullets in that thing?" He motioned towards her gun.

She shook her head, pulling it out. "I'm actually on empty. I forgot I still had it."

He turned to his jacket, which was draped over a chair, and pulled out a box of bullets. "My gift to you," he said sarcastically. "I hope you don't need them." He glanced up at the clock and grumbled. "I'm sick of this waiting. Good luck on fixing up your friend." He picked up his jacket and turned towards the doors.

The nurse began a string of protests. "Sir, get back here! You're not allowed to go in there. Are you listening to me? I'll call security, I swear…"

Billy turned back to Claire, ignoring the nurse. "Just in case, there's more ammo in the truck out front." Then he disappeared down the hallway with the angry nurse in tow.

"Uh, does he know something we don't?" Brett asked. Greg was slumping against his shoulder, delirious.

"I'm not sure." Claire began reloading her gun anyway. "I hope not."

There was a crash down the hall, then the sounds of screaming. Claire shot to her feet. "Did he just attack someone?" one of the TerraSave members shouted. "That man's crazy!"

A roar overpowered the screaming. "No," Claire said. "But something else did. We've got to go and help!" Before anyone could move, there was another crash outside the main doors. Glass shattered as something flew through them. It was the G-Type from the hotel. "Everyone get out of the lobby!" Claire shouted as she opened fire on the creature. People began scattering, trying to get as far away from the monster as possible.

The creature started swinging its massive arms - this new mutation had evened them out - around, cutting people down like weeds. Blood soon pooled on the floor as the bystanders were torn to pieces. Screaming was replaced with gurgling. One of the TerraSave members lost her head, and the G-Type sent it flying towards Claire. It hit the wall next to her with a crunch.

In a panic, she took Greg's free side and motioned down the hallway. "Brett, we have to get out of here! There's got to be a safe place we can put him."

Brett nodded, and the two dragged Greg down the hall. Behind them was the monster, screeching as it searched for more victims. Claire felt sick. She had spent her whole life trying to repair the damage that monsters like this had done. Now she was under siege yet again. _Will I never be able to find rest?_

"Hey, Claire! This one's open." Brett leaned up against one of the doors down the hall. The two beds inside were empty. Frantically, he opened the door and pulled the other two inside. Claire pulled the shades over the door window and locked it as the G-Type rounded the corner to look for them.


	7. Chapter 7: Rebecca

A/N: I gotta say, every time I sit down to write some more of this story, I have to start playing one of my RE games again. My zombie addiction should probably be checked over. I'm not sure that its healthy.

Thanks mucho to all of my readers and reviewers. I know I haven't responded to most of your comments yet. FanFiction and I have always had a bit of a love/hate relationship in terms of letting me view and respond to my comments. Grr. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this next chapter. The plot begins to thicken as Ms. Chambers and Mr. Coen are forced to once again join forces to stop Umbrella's monsters and find a certain someone in the ravaged hospital...

* * *

**Chapter 7 - Rebecca Chambers**

**Mission: Survival**

Rebecca finally got the monster to let her go. After a few rounds to the face, John had dropped her to the ground and started roaring again. His body began to shake uncontrollably. She watched in horror as his mutated arm shot out another two feet, nearly touching the floor. His shoulders stretched out, snapping muscles and tendons, and his other arm sprouted tentacles.

Before she could reach the door and escape, John whirled around and smashed one of the tentacles into the wall next to her, right into the dead nurse. Blood poured out of her mouth as he gutted her. Then he turned again and slapped Rebecca across the face with one of its claws. She flew across the room and skidded into a cabinet. She was going to have a beautiful bruise in a minute.

John began to move towards her. She raised her gun to fire the last two shots when she noticed something. The yellow pus that had coated his arm before was now oozing from the tentacles. The smell made her stomach turn, and it left holes in the floor where it hit the tile. "Crap, you're poisonous, too?" she shouted at the monster.

The nurse began convulsing. After a second, something white and slimy crawled out of the gaping hole in her stomach. It slithered underneath the door and out of sight. "What the hell…" A gunshot went off, followed by a squeal. The door flew open as Billy pointed his gun inside.

"Rebecca, are you…dear god! What is that?"

John roared and turned to Billy. Rebecca fired one shot into his head, forcing him to stumble. "Billy! Get out of here! That thing mutates with every shot. It'll kill you!"

"Not if I get it first." He ducked as John swiped his clawed arm and fired two rounds into the creature's face. It howled in pain. Billy proceeded to empty his clip into John's head and forced him to the ground. Before he could mutate again and recover, Billy crossed the room and pulled Rebecca to her feet. "Come on. We need to evacuate."

"No kidding."

Billy shook his head as he slammed the door shut and barricaded it with a chair. "No, really, there's more of those things. One crashed into the hospital lobby right after I came back here. I saw it through the glass. This is serious."

"Becca!" She turned to see Rachel sprinting down the hall towards them. She was clutching her arm. "Its Neil. He's…he's…mutating!"

"What happened to your arm?" Rebecca pulled up the nurse's sleeve and breathed a sigh of relief. It was just a scratch, probably a near-miss. "What did he start doing?"

Rachel was trying to catch her breath. "His arm just…grew! It was weird. Then he started moaning and the rest of his skin turned green and he lashed out at me. I barely got out of the room!"

A gun cocked behind them. Rebecca turned to see Billy raising his shotgun in his hand. "How the hell did you get a shotgun into the hospital?" she asked him. "Its bad enough your handgun was visible."

"So arrest me, Officer," he said in a mocking tone. "Or Doctor, whatever you are right now. I hid it in my jacket. Now, you can either stand here and complain that I have a decent weapon, or we can start trying to figure out what the hell is going on."

Rebecca frowned. "The rules all went out the window when John turned into a freaking monster. Do whatever you want."

"Thank you, doll face." There was another roar down the hall and Rachel screamed. Neil had turned into a twisted parody of his former self. His injured arm had changed into the same, three pronged claw that John had sprouted. His other arm lacked the tentacles; in fact, it was gone all together. In its place was a strange, circular lump that pulsated from his shoulder. His skin was the same sickly color and when he roared, his hot breath fouled the air around him.

Before anyone in the group could react, another scream sounded behind them. Rebecca turned to see another creature that looked like Neil and John, but with longer arms and spikes growing out of its shoulders. The remnants of its head were nearly buried in its shoulders. The monster grabbed one of the nurses standing nearby and hoisted her into the air. Before she could scream again, it sliced her in two. There was a tearing sound followed by an overwhelming scent of blood. Rachel fell to her knees in horror. "Oh…my…"

Billy swore under his breath and cocked his shotgun. "We're surrounded."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Rebecca snarled, raising her own pistol towards Neil. "I've got one bullet left. Any ideas?" She felt something cold being thrust into her hands from behind her. "What…"

"My last clip. You wouldn't happen to have any ammo stashed around here, would you?"

She loaded it into her gun and shook her head. "I may have some in my locker, but its up on the third floor. We need to find a way up there." She looked over her shoulder and straight into Billy's eyes. "Ready?"

"Must you ask? You," he looked down at Rachel, who was still cowering on the floor, "cover your ears and duck."

Rachel threw her body against the tile as Rebecca and Billy opened fire. It was a mass of roaring, gun shots and blood splatter as the two attacked their assailants back to back. Billy grunted as he poured bullets into the G-Type from the hallway. Rebecca bit her lip and aimed expertly at Neil's head. Both continued to advance despite their best efforts. They closed in slowly, slowly…

Finally, Billy managed to put one shot into the creature's mouth, sending various parts of its head in every possible direction. One large chunk caught him right above his left eye. "Gah!" he shouted as he quickly wiped it off. "Its burning my skin!"

Neil swiped his claw at Rebecca, who responded by lodging a bullet into the side of his head. He hit the floor with a thud as his arm retracted back into his body. Without bothering make sure he was dead, she turned to Billy and pulled his face towards hers. "Where were you hit?"

"My…forehead. Damn, this stings!"

She gently touched the spot where the monster's brain matter had hit him. "It looks like an acid burn. We need to treat that right away."

He chuckled. "Guess I should be thankful this happened in a hospital."

"Knock it off," she said, trying to ignore the fact that his face was dangerously close to her own. Still, it was nice to hear him joking around. "You said there were more people here that were injured?"

"Yeah." He turned back to where the remains of the monster littered the floor. "It came from that direction. One of the women said another man was attacked and needed to see a doctor. I'm not even sure if they survived, considering it came after us here."

"We need to check anyway." Rebecca checked her clip. "Three bullets left. We need to find more ammo. And survivors. Rachel, can you stand?"

The young nurse was in a heap on the floor, shaking uncontrollably and staring at the broken, mutated body of Neil. Tears streamed down her face. She was mumbling something under her breath with her eyes fixed on the former patient. Rebecca sighed and knelt next to her friend. This was going to take a minute. "Rachel, there's nothing you can do for him now. Come on, we need to go."

Rachel swayed a bit as the doctor helped her to her feet. Her face went pale. Rebecca, seeing the inevitable, forced her back to her knees as she emptied her stomach onto the floor. _It was bound to happen sooner or later_, she thought. While Rachel recovered, she turned to Billy. "What now?"

"I've got more ammo in my truck. Unless that girl's already taken it, of course."

"What girl?"

"The one in the lobby with the injured man." Billy motioned towards the front entrance with his free hand. "She had a gun on her. Said she was one of the Raccoon City survivors. We should find them and make sure they're alright."

Rebecca nodded and turned back to her friend, who was sobbing between dry heaves. "Rachel, I know this is hard," she said, placing a cool hand on the nurse's forehead. "But we need to keep moving. Neil and John aren't going to stay dead for long."

"I…I…" Rachel stuttered as she rose back to her feet. "What…"

Billy rolled his eyes. "Christ, we don't have time for this!" He thrust his shotgun into Rebecca's hands and scooped Rachel up into his arms. Rebecca felt a dull flush creep over her own cheeks. "We need to move. Now. Let's go."

The lobby was a mass of broken bodies and shattered glass. Rachel only sobbed harder as the trio surveyed the scene. A handful of adults and their body parts littered the floor. Some were intact; most were torn to pieces. Rebecca considered herself fortunate that she hadn't forgotten her training with S.T.A.R.S. Otherwise she could have been one of these people. Or, even worse, just a pool of blood on the floor with nothing left of her identity. It was saddening.

"They're not here." Billy's voice jerked her back to reality. He was looking around the lobby carefully, inspecting each of the bodies that had their heads intact. "Nope, none of them are redheads. Or stubborn blondes. Or old men with sweaters wrapped around their arms. Either they escaped or that creature totally wiped them off of the planet."

"I guess we should find them. Where do you think they went?"

Billy shrugged and put Rachel down on one of the seats. "Beats me. My guess is out those doors and away from this crazy hospital."

As if on cue, an automated voice came over the intercom. "Attention patients and staff. A biohazard has been detected in the building for over one minute. All doors and windows will be sealed for protection. We apologize for any inconvenience, and we hope you have a nice day."

"Shove it, lady." Billy growled. There was a clank, and the three looked on helplessly as two huge metal doors slid over the broken glass. They locked with a click. "Shit. Now we're locked in."

"Who…who activated the lockdown?" Rachel croaked.

"Lockdown? It just said it detected a biohazard."

The nurse frantically shook her head. "We disabled that system earlier this year. I mean, it's been ten years since the outbreak. I think…it can be undone with the right code. But someone must have triggered it first."

"Doctor Engal," Rebecca said, realizing that the doctor had been absent during their fight with the monsters. "He's trying to protect the hospital. We've got to figure out a way to escape." She dug into her pocket and pulled out an ID card. "This should get us into any of the locked rooms now that the hospital is sealed. We're going to have to forego the ammo in the truck. Let's try the lockers first."

Billy shook his head. "We need to find the survivors. We'll be fine if anything happens in the near future."

"Brave words from a man who knows better," Rebecca said, a smirk across her petite face.

He started to respond when Rachel shrieked. "Blood! There's a blood trail!" She pointed her fingers madly at a stream directly in front of her. It wound around the corner and down a deserted hallway. "Do you think its them?"

"Could be," Billy said. "It could also be from the monster."

"Well, there's only one way to find out." Rebecca slowly took a few steps towards the hallway, following the trail at her feet. Behind her came Rachel, whimpering in fear. She had the back of the doctor's jacket in a tight grip. _Hopefully we won't have to run_, Rebecca thought, _or she's going to get herself hurt_. Billy took the rear. He gripped his shotgun and kept his eyes moving as he watched for more creatures.

The silence hurt Rebecca's ears. _And to think, I was happily catching up with Billy an hour or so ago. Who would've thought we'd be wandering around a hospital, barreling our way through monsters like we did on the train…its so surreal…._ Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard whispering behind one of the doors. She held up her hand to stop the rest of the group. "I hear something," she hissed.

"Is it human?" Billy asked.

"I'm not sure. Cover me." He moved to stand behind her, the barrel of his gun hovering over her shoulder. She took two deep breaths, reached for the door knob, and slowly began to turn it.

Something flew by her head as she cracked the door open. Whatever it was broke on impact. Billy reacted by firing one round into the room. There was a shout, followed by a "Don't shoot!" in a male voice.

Billy nudged Rebecca to the side and pushed the door completely open. After a tense second, he lowered the gun and grunted. "Its you." He leaned back outside, a smug grin on his face. "Yeah, they're human."

Rebecca, who had been looking at the floor, crossed her arms and frowned at him. "Obviously. If it was a monster, it would have attacked with something other than a test tube." Ignoring the protest that he was beginning to form, she pushed him aside and entered the hospital room. The shattered glass crunched under her feet.

Three people were huddled in the corner. One was an older man who was clutching his arm and moaning. His eyes were unfocused. The blood trail ended at his feet. The other man was younger, probably only a few years older than Rebecca herself. His cropped, blonde hair was wet with sweat and speckled with blood. His line of vision went right through her, glaring daggers at the tattooed man behind her. It was the woman in the group that shocked her. She had a gun of her own pointed directly at the door. Another vial was in her other hand, ready to throw at whatever came through the door. Her gaze was steady despite the injury of the man next to her. This had to be the redhead Billy had mentioned earlier.

The woman noticed the badge hanging from Rebecca's jacket and lower her gun. "Thank goodness. You're a doctor."

Rebecca hurried over and knelt next to her. "I'm Doctor Chambers. What happened to his arm?" Already she was untying the sweater and looking over the injury, which was beginning to ooze the yellowish pus.

"We were attacked by a monster at the nearby hotel. It split his arm open and used the wound to implant some kind of embryo inside. We need to make the vaccine to kill it before he turns into a G-Type."

"You seem pretty knowledgeable about what attacked him and what's going on." Rebecca frowned as she inspected the wound. "Rachel, how long was John Roald here before he mutated?"

The nurse jumped. "Um, well, I don't know for sure. An hour, maybe two?"

"When was he attacked?"

The woman lowered her eyes. "About half an hour ago."

"And you know how to make a vaccine for this?"

"Yes. But I'll need access to the storage rooms so I can use the chemicals. And everything's been locked up, I'm sure."

The man cried out as Rebecca felt along the edges of the cut. "I can show you where to go. But I suggest you go alone. There are at least three of those monsters…G-Types, as you call them, in this building right now. Their numbers are only going to go up at this rate." She stood and hurried over to one of the supply closets in the room. Rachel snapped out of her self-induced coma to help the doctor gather clean bandages and alcohol, then set to work helping her wrap the man's arm up again. "That should buy you another hour before you mutate. If I could give you blood transfusions, you'd have another twelve hours. But we're not going to get that lucky, unfortunately."

"Thank you," the man said.

Rebecca took her ID card out again and handed it to the woman. "This will let you use the elevator on the other side of the hospital. Its for staff only. Follow the signs on the wall and you should get there in no time. The storage room is on the second floor, to the right. The card should get you in there as well."

"Wait, you're not coming with me?"

"No. I need to go and reverse the lockdown, and I need to find the other doctor on staff right now. That room is on the third floor."

Billy snorted from behind her. "Can't you just page him and tell him to reverse it so we can split? Or make someone else do it. Where's the rest of the staff?"

The younger man growled at him from the floor. "Can't you just shut up?"

"Nope. And I've got a gun. I'd watch your mouth."

"Both of you, knock it off!" Rebecca shouted. Billy merely shrugged and leaned against the door. The other man fumed but fell silent. "Now, Billy, its late and most of the staff is here during the day. This hospital isn't that big. The town doesn't need a monstrosity. Most of the staff still in the building rushed down to this floor once John started his rampage. Judging by the number of bodies we've found already, I'd say eighty percent of them are dead. The rest have likely gone into hiding. We're all on our own until we can figure out what's really going on." She turned back to the redheaded woman. "Billy said you were one of the survivors of Raccoon City. I trust in your ability to survive now."

She grinned back at the doctor. "I've always been a survivor." She pocketed the ID card. "It shouldn't take me too long to get a vaccine going. But the lack of ammunition is going to be a problem. You're right; more of those G-Types are bound to show up sooner or later."

"Check the locker rooms and the basement. You're more likely to find items there. And I see you've already made use of my equipment."

"Its better than nothing."'

Rebecca stood and offered the woman a hand, pulling her to her feet. "We're going to go disable the system. Once the doors are opened, get out of here."

"Same to you."

"Come on, Rebecca," Billy said. "We gotta get moving again."

She turned back to the former fugitive and nodded. "Let's reload our weapons. Then we need to get to the control room." She gave a thumbs up to the trio behind her. "Good luck, and stay alive."


	8. Chapter 8: Claire

A/N: Well, I guess there's no much to say except thanks to my readers and (one) reviewer from the last chapter, and I hope you guys enjoy this new one. P.S. I just received my 2,000th hit for this story a few days ago...so thanks to all you RE fans! Cookies for everyone! *ahem* Sorry...anyway, uh, yeah, just read the next chapter.

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**Chapter 8 - Claire Redfield**

**Blood Trail**

Claire watched the three survivors check the hallway, shut the door and disappear from sight. At least now they had an objective. Doctor Chambers was right; the hospital wasn't that big. She had seen the map on the wall in the lobby. Three floors plus the basement. Unless there happened to be sewers as well, it wasn't anything she couldn't handle.

"So, what's the plan?" Brett asked. He slowly got to his feet. Greg remained on the ground, panting slightly in pain.

"I need to get upstairs to make the vaccine. Hopefully there won't be too much trouble." _Huh, haven't I said that every time something like this happens? _"You stay here with Greg. I won't be gone long."

"What? No way. I'm coming with you."

Claire sighed in frustration, one hand on her hips. "Look, the easiest way to do this is for me to go alone. Greg can't be left by himself. Its too dangerous for him and for us. Plus, I already know how to make the vaccine from my old Umbrella files." She patted her pocket, where the jump drive was, just for good measure. "I can whip up a few batches and be back here in no time."

"I just…" Brett glanced down at Greg. "I don't feel right letting you go by yourself."

"You just don't want to be left alone with a G-Virus carrier," Claire said rather smugly.

Brett frowned at her. "Well, there's that, too. But you don't have enough bullets to take care of whatever's still out there." He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against one of the cabinets. "You're forgetting that those three are out there as well. I don't trust them. Especially that man. He's dangerous. What if he tries to shoot you?"

"Paranoid much?"

"I'm serious, Claire. I don't really like to admit it, but I don't see any of us getting out of here alive without you. If something happens…Jesus, I don't think I'll make it. And I'd really, really like to live to see tomorrow.

Claire was hard-pressed not to laugh. Brett was always so calm, so stoical in public. Even when trapped inside of a locked hospital that was crawling with monsters, he was trying desperately to maintain his façade. Now she could see it start to crumble. He was scared that he wouldn't live, scared that he would lose her…hell, he was scared of the other humans still alive inside. _Maybe I've been through too much_, she thought. _Is it wrong that this doesn't phase me anymore? Should I be as scared as he is right now?_

She pushed the thought away. Ten years ago, she _was_ this afraid. But she was a Redfield. Claire wouldn't show fear unless her life was literally flashing before her eyes. And right now, there was still plenty of hope.

"Brett, I promise we will make it out of here alive. Greg will be fine. The doctor did a good job on his arm, and she gave him at least a half an hour before he becomes a threat. I'll be back long before that."

"You're not going to budge on this, are you?"

"Nope."

Brett opened his mouth to say something but thought the better of it. Mumbling something under his breath, he slumped onto one of the beds in the room. "Fine. But make sure you come right back. I don't like any of this."

"And you think I do?" She noticed something glinting out of the corner of her eye. Doctor Chambers didn't close the cabinet door all the way. Peaking out through the crack was a large metal object. Claire walked over and pushed the door open all the way to reveal a long needle of some kind. It made her sick just looking at it. Whatever it was used for, it couldn't be good. Next to it was a variety of scalpels and other hospital equipment. "At least you've got ammo if you need it," she said to Brett over her shoulder.

"Pray that I don't need to use it." He made a face from his perch. "Hurry back."

Claire nodded and opened the main door slowly. The air was stale with the smell of blood, but the coast was clear. She quickly checked her pockets to make sure that she had everything. The door closed behind her without a sound. Gun in hand, she made her way deeper into the hospital.

Bodies covered most of the floor as she headed towards the elevator. It was hard to tell what was human, what used to be human, and what was viral. A couple of the bodies were mostly intact. The G-Types had killed them, possibly impregnated them, but chose not to destroy their bodies. Was it instinctual or were they being controlled? And why did these new monsters function like G-Types but not look like them? She'd always been able to recognize them for their constant mutating arms and the giant eyeball sticking out of their shoulders. The one from the hotel was similar but not quite the same. And yet there was no mistaking it.

A very dead G-Type blocked most of the hallway near the nurses' station. Its head had been completely blown away. Deep, red blood was painted on the white walls, and parts of its brain had made trail marks as the pieces slid down the surface. Claire tasted bile as she tore her eyes away. There were far more important things to do, and she was on a time limit.

After a few pushes, she managed to roll the creature on its back and hop over its legs. More bodies were strewn around. Paperwork littered the ground, shattered glass crunched under her boots, and the broken computer monitor sparked a little. One of the doors across from the desk had been ripped clean off its hinges. Claire noticed, with a slight cringe, a large pool of blood further down the hallway. _I hope that's not from another G-Type_, she thought.

The nurse that had been sitting in the desk chair slid off and fell to the floor with a thud. Claire jumped. A few seconds of silence ticked by. Nothing moved. Satisfied that there were no threats, she eased back behind the desk and began looking through the drawers and cabinets. Most contained files and medical equipment. "No ammo," she mused aloud. "I guess I can only get lucky in police stations and Umbrella facilities."

She glanced down at one of the folders and felt her blood run cold. That familiar red and white logo graced the front of the manila envelope. _Speak of the devil_. She opened it and began sorting through the contents. Most of it was full of nonsense about what the company had been doing since the Raccoon City outbreak. One paper, however, peaked her interest.

_We have finished the repairs to both the hospital and the town hall. I must say, they are quite impressive. An entire security system installed just days after the outbreak next door, and in record time. The people are starting to feel a little better now that a safe zone has been implemented. They've been screaming bloody murder since Raccoon City succumbed to the infection. Now they'll finally get some sleep._

_I got to watch those scientists, the ones who created the system, test it out to make sure it works today. Neither burglar nor bioweapon can break through this baby. Every possible exit now has a thick steel door that seals both the hospital and town hall shut. S.W.A.T. teams couldn't even break it down. But the escape routes are still clear. Hopefully we won't have to use them. But its pretty nifty just the same._

The note was typed but unsigned. Its probably from one of the staff members. A janitor, maybe, or one of the head doctors. She thought about the young doctor that had patched up Greg's arm. Doctor Chamber seemed to know about the lockdown and that it could be reversed, but not how to do so. _No, she couldn't have written this_, Claire decided in her head. She pocketed the note anyway, in case she ran into the other trio on her way to the second floor.

As she skirted around the desk, looking for more information, she noticed someone's purse on the floor. The contents were scattered about. A wallet, a pack of tissues, a tube of lipstick, keys…nothing out of the ordinary. Claire knelt down for a closer look. A bottle of something poked out from inside the purse. She picked it up and rolled it between her fingers. Holy water. She suppressed the urge to both laugh and cry. Either the former owner was a religious fanatic or there was something darker at work here.

Claire had never really been a believer or any kind of religion. Any gods that existed were doing a poor job of protecting their faithful, if any of the books were right. It was easier to believe the darker parts of religion. She'd seen the devil's face, after all. Hell, she would have died by his hand if Chris hadn't jumped in to save her. Claire rolled the bottle around in her hands again. If protection was this easy to find, why didn't someone just bless every damn drop on the planet?

Something else was poking out of the purse. She reached inside and picked up a thick book, a few drops of blood splattered on the exposed corner. The black cover gave away nothing of what was inside. A card of some kind stuck out from the pages. Claire opened it to reveal a nurse's badge. Setting it aside, she began to read the makeshift journal.

_January 9_

_The calm that spread over Stoneville has begun to fade again. People are getting twitchy. The hospital is seeing people come in with more regularity. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but something's not right. Maybe I'll talk to the therapist on staff. Raccoon City affected everyone, not just those with family or a personal stake in the tragedy._

_January 12_

_Doctor Engal is furious with the mayor and Frank Watson. For whatever reason, they've decided to shut off the lockdown mechanism that seals the hospital in case of an outbreak. The lockdown has also been disabled in the town hall. Why would they do such a thing? Especially now, with Raccoon City being surrounded with rumors of reopening. Engal said today that he wants to lockdown the hospital right now to keep those idiots out of it._

_January 20_

_We found out today that the lockdown mechanism has been off for some time and we were never informed. Frank says there's no need. Doctors Engal and Chambers were shouting with him about it in Frank's office this morning. Chambers seemed to be the maddest about the lack of information. Rachel tried to get her to talk about it but she didn't say anything. Guess we'll have to wait for that tidbit of gossip._

_February 1_

_Something is still not right here. I found a white slug in the basement a few hours ago. It was the size of a cat. Doctor Engal came and squished it when I couldn't bring myself to, but he said not to worry about it. Some of the other nurses have mentioned seeing the same thing. Is there something Engal's not telling us? Oh God, what if there's a conspiracy here, just like at Raccoon City?_

_February 3_

_I can't stop thinking about the tragedy in Raccoon City for some reason. I really am going crazy. We keep finding those slugs, but only in the basement. Engal thinks they're breeding in the tunnel that connects the hospital to the town hall. The staff over there have been complaining of the same things. Engal and the mayor agreed to arrange for an exterminator to come. Rachel laughed and said that we should get the police down there to exterminate. Maybe she's right._

_February 4_

_I found the biggest slug yet. It was the size of my dog and was just sitting inside one of the cabinets in the basement. The janitor squashed it with a board and told me to get back to work. He's never raised his voice to anyone before. I wonder what has him so edgy these days._

Claire shut the book without reading anymore. Her heart was threatening to jump right out of her chest. Disabled mechanisms. People acting strange. Not to mention those white slugs that kept showing up everywhere. The nurse was right; something was definitely up inside this hospital.

Her mind wandered back to Doctor Chambers. She was obviously stronger and smarter than her size suggested, but there was something odd about her, too. The fact that monsters running around her workplace didn't seem to perturb her wasn't settling well with Claire. But the young doctor didn't show signs of knowing exactly what was going on. She was just like that tattooed man, Billy. He mentioned that he had seen Umbrella's creations before. Maybe she had as well.

Claire made a mental note to question the doctor more when she got the chance. But she had a job to do and people were counting on her. She tossed the diary back onto the floor and squared her shoulders. Chris's words echoed in her head. _Keep your head up and your eyes open. Only trust those who give you a reason to. And most of all, keep your wits. Weapons do you no good if you can't find a way to use them._ He had said those things to her more times than she could count. A smile formed at the edge of her mouth. "Never thought I'd ever have to use your wisdom, Chris," she said to herself. Her voice echoed down the deadened hallway.

There was absolute silence as she hugged the walls. An occasional beeping from a monitor made her heart jump, but there was nothing to follow it. No nurses, doctors or patients made any noise at all. Claire wondered if the rooms were actually empty or if one of the G-Types had gotten to them first.

The blood trail at her feet wandered into one of the nearby rooms. Cautiously, Claire edged her way towards the door and stuck her ear against the cold frame. Nothing. She hesitated for a minute before sticking her head inside. One side of the room was still relatively neat and tidy. The other was in shambles. The bed was overturned and the monitors were dark. Claire shivered as she looked up at the ceiling. Holes dotted the paneling, fitting perfectly with the claw marks of a G-Type. This must have been where one of them spawned.

A clipboard was laying on the bed. Claire picked it up and flipped through the sheets. Whoever was in this bed used to go by the name of Neil. A flicker of hope went through her body. Memories came flooding back. G-Types that were created from people sometimes responded to their old names. Those that spawned from the slugs could only be stopped with firepower. If one of those monsters showed up again, maybe she could reason with it.

She checked her watch. _Damn_, she thought. _I've taken too much time snooping around_. Slinking back towards the door, she peaked out to make sure the way was clear. She gripped her pistol and slowly made her way towards the elevator.

Something slithered in the darkness. Claire could feel her heart beginning to race again. Like lightning, the source of the noise shot across the tile as the hallway came to an end.

Claire managed to bite back a cry as she rounded the corner. The G-Type slugs were crawling all over the hospital in huge numbers. There was no way this many had managed to spawn without some kind of outside help. It was hard to tell where the wall ended and where the slugs began. Claire's stomach churned as she felt a fresh wave of panic overtake her. There was no way she was going to get through that mess without some kind of mark to prove it.

A loud dinging sound caught her attention. A pair of doors opened in front of her to reveal the elevator. She must have tripped a sensor. "Yes!" she shouted. She whipped the keycard out and swiped it as the slugs regained their bearings and began the short trek to their next victim.

"I don't think so," she mumbled to them as they darted in her direction. Two of them squealed as she put a bullet through their soft skin. But there were too many of them. "Come on!" she shouted to the elevator. The slugs were getting closer. She only had a handful of bullets, and there was no telling what she would find on the second floor. Gritting her teeth, she smashed one of them with the butt of her gun. It wasn't going to be enough…

The doors opened right before the onslaught. Claire dove into the elevator and slammed her hand on the emergency door button. There was a squawk as a G-Type slug found itself caught between the doors and exploded. But the danger had passed for the moment. Claire sat on the floor, panting. This was going to be harder than she thought.

She shook her head and got to her feet. At least she was still intact, and she had a weapon. Those were things to be thankful for.

"Guess I should count myself lucky," she said to herself as she rode the silent elevator to the second floor.


	9. Chapter 9: Rebecca

A/N: Now I know what its like to be a zombie...it really does feel good to be back from the dead. As always, thank you to my fantastic readers and reviewers. A special thank you to the members of the RE Fanfiction community who sent me emails to make sure I was ok and working on this story. I didn't realize how much you guys were really enjoying it. I feel honored to be able to entertain so many of you. I've also fixed my Review fiasco and can now read and respond to your reviews. Keep 'em coming!

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**Chapter 9 - Rebecca Chambers**

**Deadly Secrets**

The smell of fresh blood had never really bothered Rebecca until now. Even when she had been trapped in the train, the Umbrella facility and the mansion, it had been fear that drove her actions. The blood had never mattered. It wasn't important. And now she worked in a hospital, where blood was everywhere. Perhaps it was the unnecessary shedding of blood mixed with the toxins from the G-Types that was making her uneasy. Whatever it was, it made her own blood run cold and her stomach churn.

"Where to, princess?"

Billy's voice snapped her back to the present and made her frown. "Don't call me 'princess.' I thought you knew better."

"Sorry. Annoying people bring out the worst in me."

Rachel whimpered and gripped Rebecca's arm harder. "Oh, I've insulted him, didn't I? I'm sorry…please don't let him shoot me…"

"Relax," the doctor said, trying to soothe her friend. "Billy's not mad at you. And even if he was," she glared daggers at him, "he knows better than to mess with me."

He grinned. Rebecca felt a blush creep into her cheeks. At least it was darker in the hallways. "Hey, I've learned my lesson with you. But that other man is getting on my last nerve."

"He's scared. Leave him alone."

"He doesn't have to give me attitude."

"And you don't have to give him attitude."

"Uh, hello? Former marine and current fugitive here. I can't help it if I have a little bit of an ego, especially in situations like this."

"Stop fighting!" Rachel's squeal rang through both of their ears. "Rebecca, I want to get out of here. So lets just stop arguing and find a way to reverse the lockdown."

Rebecca snorted but agreed. "We need to find another keycard since I gave mine to that other woman. Do you still have yours?" Rachel nodded. "Good. We can reprogram it in the janitor's room, I think. There should also be some things we can use there as weapons."

"Then lets get moving," Billy said. His voice sounded a bit edgy. Rebecca hoped it was because he was worried about getting out of the hospital and not just because of that other man. Hadn't he been the one to tell her that they needed to set differences and issues aside so they could work together? It wasn't any different now.

The doctor led the party, with Rachel still digging into her skin and Billy bringing up the rear. "We have to go back through the lobby. It's the quickest way to get there. Plus it'll give that other woman plenty of time to get up the elevator to the second floor."

"You lead the way." Billy's mouth was set in a grim line.

Agitation was building but Rebecca kept it in check. Fighting now would get them nowhere. _I wonder what happened to the man I knew ten years ago, or even the man I was talking to just a few hours ago_. Maybe the past decade and the horrors they had experienced together had affected him more than she realized. She decided that it didn't really matter. First, they needed to make it through the horrors they were experiencing right now.

Rebecca swallowed bile as they crossed the lobby again. She could feel her shoes sticking to the floor as they sloshed through the blood. The white walls were now a reddish brown color. None of the bodies on the floor even looked like humans anymore. Rachel whimpered behind her. Rebecca felt the nurse's pain. All of this was much too overwhelming for her rather naïve friend.

The janitor's closet was at the end of the opposite hallway. That whole wing was closed off to visitors and patients. Not only were the rooms here loaded with medical equipment and supplies, but they also led to the underground tunnels in the basement. Rebecca remembered when Doctor Engal had first told her about them. They were a failsafe of sorts; a way to protect the town should another biohazard outbreak take place.

It made her uncomfortable to think about them. The fact that no one except Frank Watson, the head doctor and hospital coordinator, and the mayor were allowed to access them only made the feeling worse.

"Rebecca, stop." Billy's voice startled her.

"What? What's wrong now?"

"Look." Her eyes followed his gaze to the floor. Rachel tightened her grip on Rebecca's arm. Flashbacks from the train threatened to overwhelm the young doctor.

There was a single red streak across the floor. On either side of it were trails of some kind of clearish material. Slime, from the looks of it. And the red was definitely blood. She traced it to the last room at the end of the hallway and grunted in frustration. It ended at the janitor's room.

Billy stepped around Rachel, still looking at the ground. "Looks like the monsters beat us to another victim. Is that where we gotta go?"

"Yep." She grabbed her pistol with both hands and glanced at him. His face was completely focused. Her heart started beating faster. "Ready?"

"Let's do it."

They slowly walked towards the room and noticed that the door was already cracked. Billy peaked inside. "There's a G-Type inside. At least…I think that's what it is."

Rebecca ducked under his arm to look inside. It definitely looked like the monsters they had fought earlier. But something was wrong. It wasn't moving. It just held its head in its hands. Pus was dripping from holes that she couldn't see.

It only took seconds for her to realize what was going on. There was a crack as its spine broke and more pus oozed onto the ground and began eating through the tile. One arm started retracting while the other grew. Spines and barbs began jutting out from its shoulders.

"Its transforming!" Rebecca shouted. "This is our chance!"

The creature turned suddenly. Its face looked like it was half melted from its own poison. Its mouth opened in a hideous roar.

Rebecca raised her gun to start shooting, but Billy beat her to it. He nudged her out of the way with his elbow and pointed his shotgun right at the creature's mouth. One bullet was all it took. There was complete silence as the monster's head exploded and scattered in a million different directions.

"Wha…wha…" Rachel stammered as Billy cautiously moved towards the dead creature, his gun still aimed at it. He poked its long arm like a child would do to a dead animal in the woods. Rebecca found it amusing, given the situation.

He looked back towards the door and motioned for them to come over. Half-dragging the nurse, Rebecca shut the door behind them and stood over the remains of the creature. "Do you notice anything weird about this one?" he asked.

She thought about it for a minute. There were definitely familiar elements from Neil's and John's transformations. It was the same with the monster that had crawled in from the hospital lobby. The extended arms, the claws for hands, that odd lump forming on the shorter or missing arm - it was obviously the same kind of creature that her patients were turning into.

But none of them were exactly the same. This one was missing the tentacles that John had sprouted, and the spines protruding from its shoulder were lacking in the other monsters. "Something's off," she whispered, more to herself than anyone else.

Billy answered anyway. "Its like they're all from the same mold, but something was added that makes them all different."

"Like what?"

"I'm not sure. But everything else we've encountered has been the same, you know? All of the zombies acted and looked the same…the leeches…Christ, even the fucking monkeys were like that. I don't get it."

"Zombies?" Both of them had forgotten that Rachel was still there. "Rebecca, what's going on? Why are we under attack? And why the hell are you two not scared of all this?"

Rebecca sighed and wiped her forehead. This whole situation would be a million times easier if it was just her and Billy. She knew what he was like and how he reacted to these kinds of things. She could trust his instincts. But Rachel? She was an innocent bystander. She hadn't been there for any of the outbreaks. The idea of the hospital being sealed and filled with monsters was likely to cripple her with fear and paranoia.

Still, her friend needed to understand the danger they were all in. Rachel wasn't completely helpless. If she was, she wouldn't be very good at her job. And to understand that, she needed to hear about the events of 1998.

"Rebecca?" Billy was looking at her with a question in his eyes. Some of the mask he usually wore had crumbled, unveiling his concern and his desire to make it out of yet another outbreak alive.

She nodded in response and held her hand out towards Rachel. "I need your keycard so we can get moving. And…and then I need to tell you some things."

Rachel wordlessly handed over her card. The photo of a smiling young woman seemed like a cruel parody of the bloodied, tearstained face in reality. Rebecca found the necessary machine on the janitor's desk. There was a loud beeping sound as it read the card. Her heart rate jumped. Instructions popped up on the screen, followed by a password request. Rebecca typed it in and clicked on the button to rewire the card. A five minute countdown started as the machine powered up.

"I was eighteen when I received my first assignment as a cop," she said. Her eyes slid over to Rachel, who was staring at her from the floor. The fact that a headless monster was inches away from her didn't seem to matter at the moment. "I had always been drawn to medicine, so I was hired to the squad as the field medic. It seemed like the perfect job, both protecting and healing people. Unfortunately, my mission didn't allow me to do either. We were told to check out a string of murders happening in the woods. Within minutes of our investigation, most of my team was killed by infected animals and zombies."

"Just like Raccoon City," Rachel whispered.

Rebecca nodded. "I thought for sure I was going to become zombie food. I chanced upon another survivor, though, and the odds slowly got better. I survived the woods only to end up in a mansion where the original outbreak had started. Between the infection in the mansion and the one that started in the underground labs we found, Raccoon City didn't have a chance. I'm surprised that the infection didn't start sooner, actually."

Rachel drew her knees into her chest. "Who's this 'we'? You mean, you and the other survivor? What happened to them?"

"He found himself in another outbreak," Billy said. Rebecca saw a thousand hurts flash across his eyes in a matter of seconds. Her heart bled a little. True, they had gone through Hell and lived to tell about it. He had made the trip years before her though and still managed to survive.

"You?" Rachel stared at him with large eyes. "You're the other survivor?"

"The one and only." He shifted a little and set his shotgun against the desk. "I was being transported to another location when my car was attacked by mutated leeches. I managed to escape and met up with Rebecca. Together, we discovered the cause of the outbreak and escaped infection."

"Where did you go after that?" Rachel's eyes never left Billy's face.

He ran his fingers through his hair, a sign that he was frustrated. Rebecca could relate. Their tale wasn't exactly a happy one. Nor was it entirely believable from an outsider's viewpoint. She hated telling it; otherwise Rachel would have heard it years ago. Still, it wasn't like the nurse was going to blab their story to everyone she met after this. There was no guarantee that any of them would even live to tell it.

Eventually, Billy's annoyance abated. "I went back to the wreckage. It was the only place I could think of. But once I got there, all I could think about was…" He paused. Rebecca watched as he laced his fingers together, his brow wrinkled as he tried to find the right words. But he waved them off. "I decided to clear away some of the wreckage, just to keep my hands and my mind busy. Then I burned all of my transport papers and the remains of the bodies at the scene."

"Where were you being transported to?" Rachel asked.

Rebecca waited for him to say, "To my death," but he merely stared at the tile. For a few long seconds, he said nothing at all. Rachel turned to the doctor when Billy remained silent. "He was convicted of murdering twenty-three people," Rebecca said. "Billy was on his way to be executed for his crimes."

If Rachel's eyes had been big before, they were now ready to pop out of her head. "You killed people?"

"I was a marine. Of course I killed people."

"Yeah, but not innocent people."

Again, Rebecca waited for Billy to say what she expected him to, that he wasn't guilty of murder. Again, he said nothing. Her own frustration was beginning to build. "Billy, what's wrong? You've never been this hesitant before."

He looked up at her and her heart stopped. His eyes held hers captive once again. She saw his broken, bleeding soul trapped behind a mask of half-truths and a fear of being known. Had his eyes always shown this? She couldn't remember. All of those times before, she had found comfort in his gaze. There had been fear, but there had also been a sliver of hope and confidence in their abilities to survive. What was he holding back now?

"Billy?" Her voice was barely a whisper, yet he flinched as if she'd slapped him. "Tell me what's wrong."

"Why does something have to be wrong?" he asked with a snarl.

"Why do you always have to be so defensive?" she shot back. Then she bit her tongue. This wasn't the time or the place to be talking about this. Still, she wanted to know. He'd dodged her questions for so long. Ten years had passed and she still had no idea what kind of horrors he'd experienced before the train. She was a doctor. Treating wounds was her life's work. And she'd never, ever wanted to heal someone as badly as she wanted to heal Billy Coen.

"Billy, please tell me," she said after a few tense seconds.

He looked up at her again. An icy sheen now glazed over his eyes. "I found an interesting paper among the MP wreckage. Apparently, I wasn't going anywhere near an executioner's block. I was going back to training."

The room chilled, as if his words could physically alter the temperature. Rebecca shivered. "What do you mean?"

"Umbrella is a funny corporation. They manage to put you into situations that you can't get out of, and then the only option you have is to continue playing their game." He stood and walked over to the opposite wall. His hands were clenched into fists. But rather than punch the concrete, he used his arms to steady himself against the wall. "My execution was a façade. Although either way you look at it, Umbrella was going to kill me anyway.

"I had thought that the government was responsible for my conviction. It turns out that Umbrella had their greedy fingers in that pie as well. So they staged my trial and convinced the jury that they were the best group to carry out my sentence. The judge left me in their hands. But they had different ideas for me. Instead, they wanted to offer me a second chance with the UBCS."

"The UBCS," Rebecca mumbled to herself. That name sounded awfully familiar. She thought back to her conversations with the other S.T.A.R.S. members after the Raccoon City outbreak. She swore that's where she'd heard it before…"Wait, that's Umbrella's mercenary group!" she shouted. Jill had mentioned them before, shortly before taking off to Russia with Chris. UBCS troops had been sent into Raccoon to rescue Umbrella staff members. They'd had about as much success as Jill and the police in saving anyone, much less themselves.

"Yep," Billy said in reply. "Umbrella screwed up my life in the military simply to screw with it some more as one of their mercenaries. Cute, huh?"

Rebecca suppressed an urge to stand up and hug him. He wasn't ready for something like that. She would probably start crying anyway. "Why didn't you tell me this before, back in the cabin?"

"Because it didn't matter."

"Billy, if you're innocent…"

"I never said I was innocent or guilty."

"Why don't you trust me enough to tell me the truth?" Her frustration was growing again. "Weren't you the one who said we needed to trust each other? Look what happened! We survived the train and the underground labs. Now, when we need to trust each other again, you'd rather close up on me?"

Billy glanced over his shoulder. His body had relaxed but his eyes were still frozen. "How much time is left on that?"

She felt like he'd slapped her in the face. All she wanted to do was help him, and he'd shoved her aside. Did their experience ten years ago mean nothing to him? "I'll answer your question when you answer mine."

"Some things shouldn't be told, Rebecca," he said.

"Some things need to be so that the person can heal. You can't keep walking around with such deep wounds, Billy. Eventually you run out of blood."

Some of his ice wall melted. Rebecca pleaded with him through her own eyes. "Guess it's a good thing that you're a doctor."

"That's not an answer," she said, hearing a chill in her own voice. "A doctor can only tell a patient what he or she thinks they should do. The healing is up to the patient."

He chuckled. "Princess, if we make it out of here alive, I'll let you do whatever you want to me."

She bit back her retort. Here she was, trying to be serious and understand what he went through, and he was too busy flirting with her. _Damn soldiers_, she thought to herself. She turned her attention back to the screen as the card continued to process her request. Perhaps focusing on the screen would calm her a little.

"Rebecca?"

"What?" she said, annoyance laced in her tone.

"You never answered my question."

She kept her eyes on the screen. "You never answered mine."

There was a few seconds of silence. Rachel broke it. "Becca? Is it almost finished?"

The doctor kept her face composed. "Less than two minutes." Rachel nodded and drew her knees under her chin, trying to maintain her composure. Billy remained where he was against the wall.

Rebecca straightened her back in an attempt to keep herself seated. Her mind was screaming, and her body was ready to fly into a thousand pieces. Billy's words echoed in her ears. _I never said I was innocent or guilty_. What did he mean by that? Had he really killed all of those people then? And what did he mean by Umbrella meddling in his life? Why wouldn't he just open up and trust her?

She kept her gaze on the shrinking numbers. He wasn't ready to tell her what happened just yet. But maybe, just maybe, she would earn the trust that every patient gives their doctor when they know their life is in danger. Rebecca just hoped it would be sooner rather than later.


	10. Chapter 10: Claire

A/N: Alright, I think I have my focus back for this story. Thank God! Anyway, thanks to USWeasilgirl and xwittychickx for the lovely reviews. Its good to be back, guys. I'll try to keep up with the demand *grins*. Oh, and the document mentioned in this chapter comes straight from the G-Virus antigen document in RE2.

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**Chapter 10 - Claire Redfield**

**A Dangerous Mix**

It didn't take long for Claire to remember why she hated elevators. They were slow, confined and rarely opened up to anything good in the middle of an outbreak. The stairs weren't that much better. But dodging Umbrella's monsters on the stairs had a much better success rate than battling them in boxes that hung from cables. Very, very fragile cables, if she was being honest with herself. All the security systems and planning in the world meant nothing to a Tyrant capable of turning a metal cage into origami.

To keep her mind busy, she checked her ammunition and made sure that all of her items were accounted for. There was no such thing as being over prepared in a situation like this. She'd learned her lesson. How many times had she faced hoards of zombies with only a few clips in her pocket? How often had she come to a locked door without realizing that she had the lock's password among her documents? How many close shaves had there been when a few extra minutes of planning would have made a difference?

She wished that Chris was still in the States instead of working on his mission in Africa. Its not like his presence would have made a difference right at that moment. Unless he'd managed to gain teleportation powers from his contact with Umbrella's viruses, he wouldn't have been able to physically help her. But being able to get him on the phone would have made her feel much better. He would give her confidence, help her remember important clues and remind her that she kicked butt. She laughed to herself. Chris always told everyone that they kicked butt. Still, it would have been nice to hear it while crawling towards the second floor.

_Wait_, she thought. _There's still one other person I could call that needs to know_. She flipped her phone open and scanned her contacts. There it was. Leon Kennedy. He was the most impossible person in the world to get a hold of. She had left him messages on his phone before and waited three months to get a response. Three months! She knew his job was stressful and all, but really, there was no need to take that long to answer. She didn't need a play by play of what he was up to. A simple 'hey, I got your message' would have been fine.

But she had never called him during an emergency and waited that long. Okay, so the last time this happened, she was on an island and had only sent him her location. The response had been almost immediate then. She was counting on that speed again….

Claire stopped her thought process and selected his number on her phone. Thinking about Rockfort Island right now was definitely not a good idea.

She grumbled at the phone, which was dialing Leon's number but wasn't making a connection. There was no service in the elevator. "Of course," she said out loud, sarcasm dripping from every syllable. "Why would technology work for me in the middle of an outbreak?" She shoved her phone back in her pocket. Once she was in a safe room, she would try again.

There was a loud ding and the elevator stopped. "This is it," she muttered. Gun in hand, she positioned herself near the button panel as the doors slid open.

It was worse than she thought. Like the first floor, it was impossible to tell where the walls ended and the slugs began. Everything was covered with a layer of slime. Claire wanted to gag. This was dangerous and disgusting. How did so many of them manage to spawn in such a short amount of time? This couldn't have happened overnight, and yet there was no other way to explain it. Something had to be controlling them, or at least controlling when they hatched. Otherwise someone would have noticed this earlier today.

"Guess I have to barrel through." She wished, briefly, that she had looked at a map to figure out where the supply room was. It wouldn't have made a huge different, but it would have at least pointed her in a direction. Instead she took a deep breath, counted to three and ran from the elevator.

The slugs made a couple of attempts to attack her. Most of them were either too weak or too uninterested to do much more than crawl across the walls. Some of the slime had dripped onto the floor, making it difficult to walk. Claire managed to get a few running steps in before sliding across the slick surface. That made it a little easier to knock the attacking monsters from their perches without worrying about her feet.

She tried to round a corner while missing a ceiling slug, sending her flailing about in a circle. Panicking, she grabbed the nearest thing to try and steady herself. It was a door. Without thinking, she slammed it shut. Then she waited for something to jump out at her. There was nothing beyond the sounds of the slugs crawling around outside.

It looked like a waiting room. A couple of the chairs held jackets and purses. A box of toys in the far corner had been scattered everywhere. It looked like everyone had evacuated in a hurry. Claire thought it was odd, seeing as how it was the only room so far that didn't have any blood or slime. It probably wouldn't stay like that for long. She began rifling through everything, looking for items that she could use or information about what was going on. She also hoped that there was cell phone service.

The random clothing didn't have anything useful, but she found a cabinet in the corner that contained a variety of first aid items, including sprays. Even if she didn't need to use them on herself, they made very good flamethrowers in a pinch. She also pocketed a couple of vials to carry her antidote. One batch wasn't going to do their group a lot of good. Plus, there was no telling if that doctor knew how to make an antidote herself. Claire eyed a map on the inside of the cabinet door as well. Most of the rooms appeared to be patient rooms. There was one at the end of the hall she'd tried to go down that looked like an equipment room. _Perfect_, she thought. _Its even close by_.

Satisfied, she pulled out her phone and saw three bars in the corner of the screen. In four seconds she had punched in Leon's number. Claire wondered what her old partner was up to. A few years ago, he had been sent to Spain on a recovery mission. He came back to the States mostly unscathed, naturally. But what he had seen upset him. He'd confided that much to her over the phone. The nature of bioterrorism was changing and he was worried that they'd never keep up with it. He was a strong person; he'd get over whatever bothered him eventually. Claire just hated to add another burden. But she couldn't get through this one without help, and Leon's advice might be the catalyst that saved them all.

Or it would have been if he's answered his phone. Claire rolled her eyes as the familiar message graced her ears. _Oh Leon, you still have so much to learn_, she thought

The phone beeped and she launched into her tirade. "Leon, its Claire. Just thought I'd let you know that I'm in Stoneville, sitting in one of the waiting rooms of the hospital that's been overrun by G-Types. Some help would be appreciated. Oh, and if you don't get this for another month or so, don't bother answering. I'm sure you'll have heard about it by then."

She grinned and shoved the phone back in her pocket. That would hopefully do the trick. Checking her gun and making sure that she hadn't left anything behind, Claire threw the door open and ran back into the hallway.

She almost lost her balance again as she turned the corner. The slugs continued to jump at her, but she deftly maneuvered around them. Only twice did she have to fire her gun when they blocked her path to the door. Just as she reached the small door with 'Supply Room' written across the front, a roar shook the floor. Claire didn't even turn to see where the monster was coming from. She reached out, grabbed the handle and slid across the threshold before the G-Type rounded the corner. She held her breath, in a heap on the floor, as she heard the monster walk past her. It stopped for a second and growled.

_Please don't open this door_, she whispered to herself. Two inches was all that separated the two of them. If it heard her breathing or caught a whiff of her scent, she was done for. Her clip didn't have enough bullets to bring another monster down.

The creature sniffed, scratched at something, and moved on down the hall. Claire didn't dare move until she couldn't hear it anymore. Her breath came out in a single rush.

After the danger had passed, she stood and surveyed the room. Most of the walls were covered by cabinets and counters that were filled with medical supplies and equipment. The main part of the room held tables but no chairs. A computer was still on in the opposite corner. "Perfect," she said to no one in particular.

She closed the windows on the computer and dug the jump drive out of her pocket. As soon as everything loaded, she opened the files and began her hunt for the antidote. Claire had probably read every file Umbrella had created by now. That's how it felt, at least. With everything that she and her friends had been through, they could probably write the company's memoirs down in a book without having been employees themselves. Somehow, getting chased by Umbrella's monsters and nearly becoming one several times made her feel like a member of the company already. She'd had more contact with their experiments than most of the staff could dream of having.

The file finally popped up in the G-Type folder. She hoped that all of the ingredients she needed were somewhere in this room. After the initial outbreak, nearly every health facility in the country was required to have a basic form of immunization against the T-virus. It wasn't going to do this place a whole lot of good now anyway. Despite the precautions, people didn't seem to know what the symptoms looked like until it was too late. Luckily for her though, the G-virus antidote was a similar makeup to that of the T-virus. There would be plenty of ingredients for her to use. At least that was the plan.

**_INSTRUCTIONS FOR SYNTHESIS OF THE G-VIRUS ANTIGEN: G-VACCINE. CODE NAMED "DEVIL."_**

**_Any beings infected by the G-virus will reproduce through the impregnation of an embryo within another living being. Unless rejected by the host, the embryo will undertake a process of gradual cellular invasion, infecting the host's cells on a molecular level as it rewrites their DNA._**

**_Once the metamorphosis is complete, the host will be capable of continuing this_**

**_cycle of self-replication. The duration of time for the process to run its course will vary from subject to subject. In the early stages of cellular invasion, it is possible to halt progression of the metamorphosis through the administration of the G-vaccine Antigen._**

**_The following procedure details its synthesis:_**

**_The vaccine creation requires the base vaccine. This can be arranged by the activator VAM. First set the empty cartridge to the VAM and activate it. After several moments the process will be complete and the white-colored base vaccine will be set in the cartridge automatically. Then confirm the green light is on, remove the cartridge, and proceed to the next step._**

**_Once the base vaccine has been prepared, set it in the vaccine synthesis machine located in the P-4 level experiment room. The machine is fully automated and only requires the user to push the sequence start switch. At this point, the program will run automatically and synthesis will be complete within approximately 10 seconds._**

**_As the synthesis of DEVIL is an extremely delicate process, the quality will vary with slight shocks or changes in temperature. Careful handling is required for the proper results._**

Claire immediately got to work collecting everything that she needed. While she didn't have the luxury of being inside an Umbrella facility with all of the equipment mentioned, she knew enough to make the vaccine from scratch. The hospital was equipped with a synthesis machine, so a majority of the work was already done for her. The steps in the document would guide her the rest of the way.

She knew that she would have to adjust the concoction slightly. Greg was already in the advanced stages of the mutation. The hospital hadn't been infected for very long based on the chaos around her, so the final mutation into the G-Type would happen rapidly. In order to halt it, she would have to include something to force the embryo out of his system before it could complete the transformation. She decided to use whatever she found first and prayed that it would mix well with the rest of the antidote.

As she gathered virus samples and base ingredients from the list on the drive, she couldn't help but wonder what was wrong with this new batch of G-Type monsters. They behaved like the ones she'd encountered in Raccoon City, and at the same time they were different. The sheer numbers bothered her greatly. Despite their dangerous growth cycle, she had only seen a few of the embryos during her time there and only Doctor Birkin had fully mutated into one of those creatures. Her experiences at Harvardville had reintroduced her to the creature, but it had followed the same pattern as the doctor's did.

These monsters…they were different.

Claire bit her lip as she worked, trying to drudge up memories that she needed without reawakening the painful ones. The barbs on the shoulders, the elongated necks, the pus that burned right through everything around it…there was no mistaking it. Either these G-Types had strains of the T-Veronica virus in them or someone here in Stoneville had found a major breakthrough.

_Wait_, she thought. _A combination of the viruses? Didn't I just read that somewhere?_

Frantic, she dug back through the files on the drive until she found one she had read just days before. It was the scientist's note from Alexia's death. At the time, Claire had dismissed the claims as ridiculous and out of the question. Now it seemed like the possibility was very real. The man who had written the document was right. Both viruses acted rapidly, causing constant mutation until the host eventually died. By the time the final form was reached, all semblance of humanity would be gone.

Yet Alexia had been able to allow her virus to adapt to her body, proving to be a nearly unstoppable force. In fifteen years, she had become a viral machine. It had been ten years since the outbreak in Raccoon City and the destruction at Rockfort Island. If a group like Umbrella had been working on both the G-virus and the T-Veronica virus since both infestations, there was no telling what they may have discovered about the viruses and their progressions.

If that was the case, Claire had even less time to help Greg than she thought. A cure existed for the G-Virus but she had no idea if there was one for the T-Veronica strain. She hoped that if both viruses were present in the monsters' bodies, killing one would weaken or kill the other.

Claire gathered all of her samples and equipment on the table and ran over the process again. Her heart sank as she glanced between the two. "No base," she said to herself. There had to be a base around here somewhere. No one here would be able to mix antidotes for the viruses if they didn't. Plus the synthesis machine was here. If they were out of it…. She closed her eyes and shook her head. It had to be here somewhere. She thought back to the map she had seen in the waiting room. This was definitely the main supply room. Where else could the base be?

But there was another room on the other side of the second floor. It had been marked with only an 'S'. A storage room? Claire hoped so. It was the only other place nearby that would have the base she needed.

There was a deep growl on the other side of the door. Claire set her jaw and grabbed her gun off of the table. The hallways were crawling with embryos and monsters. She would have to tread carefully if she wanted to keep her head on her shoulders. _Just like old times_, she thought. Gripping her gun, she calculated the best path to the other side and threw the door open.

She took two running steps and slid along the slime-covered floors. There was another roar, but it seemed far away. The slugs jumped at her from all sides. They narrowly missed her head and arms as she flew past them. Claire kept her eyes forward. She was one step ahead of the baby G-Types, which was a good thing. If she could keep ahead of the full grown monsters, she would have a chance. All she needed to do was take a right and then a quick left and she would be home free.

The door in front of her flew open. Pain shot through her nose and into her head. She didn't have to look to know that she was bleeding, but at least she didn't feel it break. Ignoring it, she threw out her hands to brace her fall and rolled away, gun in hand.

There was silence for a moment. Then there was a scream. Claire's pulse quickened as the scream became guttural and mutated into a growl. She peaked around the door.

She couldn't tell if it used to be a nurse or a patient. She could, however, tell that it had fully mutated into a G-Type. Two massive arms hung down past its knees, one of which had at least eight barbs shooting out of its shoulder. Its head was sunken into its body to the chin. Claire gripped her gun tighter and debated on how to deal with it. The monster had thrown open the door but hadn't spotted her yet. She could try sneaking past it since she didn't have very many bullets left. Or she could try and take it down while it was still unaware of her position…

The creature turned its head towards the door and let out a roar that shook the walls. Claire bolted down the hallway in a last ditch effort to get away from it. Something shot out from behind her and tripped her. She cried out as she landed hard on her side. There was no choice now. She needed to distract it or kill it. Claire raised her gun and prepared to open fire.

A clanging sound caught her attention. A can rolled out from under her and stopped as it hit the wall. It was the spray can she had found earlier. She suddenly had an idea.

The G-Type began its slow walk towards her, both eyes secured on its prey. Claire grabbed the spray can and waited for it to move closer…closer…

The monster reached out with one of its long arms and made a grab at her. She rolled out of the way and reached into her pocket. Quick as lightning, she flipped open her lighter and shoved it underneath the nozzle of the can. Fire spewed out from her hand and hit the creature in the face. An unearthly roar filled the hallways. A handful of the embryos fell from the ceiling as they scurried away.

Claire barely noticed. She kept the can aimed at the monster until she was sure it was completely engulfed in flames. The G-Type's cries became unbearable. She knew it was either going to attack her or die from the damage. "Time to end this!" she shouted at it, still aiming the homemade flamethrower. Slowly, she got to her feet and took a step closer. Soon she was only a few feet away. The flames continued to lick at its scaly skin as it crumbled to the ground.

She watched, wide eyed, as the G-Type turned into a pile of charred remains. Seconds later, the sprinklers turned on. Claire jumped as the cold water dripped down the back of her shirt. She needed to get that base before something else happened. Shoving the lighter back in her pocket, she turned and continued back down the hallways towards the other storage room.

The sprinklers covered the sound of metal tearing and glass shattering behind her. A figure stepped onto the ground and looked around. Everything was coated in slime. He made a face. That stuff always made him feel nauseous. Glass crunched underneath his boots as he walked down the hallway. Burning flesh tickled his nostrils. _What's been going on here?_

He stopped when he saw it. Another one of those monsters was lying at one of the intersections. At least, it used to be one of them. Now it was nothing but black goo and burned bones. A faint smile graced his face. There was no way one of them could set itself on fire. That meant someone else was still alive inside…someone with a brain and quick reflexes. Perhaps this trip wouldn't be worthless after all.

Another growl sounded from the other end of the long hallway. _Oh well_, he thought_. I guess there's still some of her mess to clean up._


	11. Chapter 11: Rebecca

A/N: I admit that I struggled a bit with this chapter, so I hope it turned out ok. To answer one of the emails I received about everyone using the elevator instead of the stairs, I modeled the majority of this hospital on the one near me. Its not overly large, ID cards are required to get pretty much anywhere, and I haven't been able to find the stairs (ok, so I haven't spent much time there, but still…). There are elevators for everything. Its seriously nutty. What would they do in case of fire? Or an outbreak?

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**Chapter 11 - Rebecca Chambers**

**Breakdown**

After another tense minute, the machine beeped. Rachel jumped from her spot on the floor. Billy didn't acknowledge anything. Rebecca watched the screen as a new list of possible locations came up on the screen. The programming was done. Now the real journey was about to start. Without a word, she took the card and pocketed it. They had to make it to the third floor as soon as possible.

"Um…what now?" Rachel asked. The nurse was visibly shaking. Whether from cold or terror, Rebecca couldn't tell.

"We need to head back to the main elevator. The mechanism to reverse the lockdown is upstairs. Once the doors are open, we need to get out of here quickly. The town needs to be alerted."

A loud clang echoed through the room. Both Rebecca and Rachel jumped, the former instinctively reaching for her gun and the other clutching her chest with fright. "What the hell?" Rebecca shouted.

Billy stuck his head out from around a cabinet door. He'd apparently been rummaging through the janitors' things. Rebecca hadn't even noticed him moving. A metal can rolled on the floor by his feet. "Sorry," he mumbled, picking it up and putting it back in the closet. "Is there anything here we can use in here? I sure as hell am not going back out there unprepared." He scanned the contents on the shelves in front of him, his mouth set in a grim line. "Damn, I wish I could get the ammo in my car."

Rebecca bit back the sarcastic comment she wanted to make. Instead she wandered over to another cabinet. "One of the janitors is an avid hunter. He might have something stashed around here."

"I'll take whatever I can get at this point." He shifted a few things around, trying to come up with something he could make into a weapon. "What the hell is all this stuff? I can't figure out any of these words."

"Its probably all cleaning stuff," Rebecca said. "We should still be able to use it."

"And I'm just supposed to magically know what'll work?" he asked sharply.

She resisted the urge to throw something at his inflated head. "I thought you were supposed to be the smart one here. You know, the calm, cool and collected soldier who could get himself out of any situation. He was around this morning. Now he's turned into a condescending asshole. If you're just going to stand there and beg for some kind of pity, at least be nice about it." Rebecca immediately regretted her words but couldn't find a way to stop them. They'd been building ever since the lockdown started.

Billy responded by slamming the cabinet door shut. "I never, ever asked for pity. Especially from you."

"Really? You've sure tried to get it from me, Coen. You've never told me the truth about your past. Instead you give me ambiguous clues and then stop right before I can touch the surface of what really happened. Any normal person would feel sorry for you. You've never pushed me away when I've tried to help before. Now you're going pretend that you can't use chemicals - all of which are probably flammable - against an Umbrella creation?" Billy was just staring at her now. Rachel was whimpering again. "Here. I found these while you were busy whining." Rebecca threw a box of bullets at her former partner. He caught them, still watching her. "You don't want pity? You just want to be the lone wolf you've always been? Then fine. Rachel and I will find our own way upstairs. When the doors open, just leave."

"Rebecca…"

"Quiet, Coen." She stuffed a few spray cans in her coat pockets and reloaded her gun with the rest of the bullets she'd found. "Rachel, are you okay to go?" The nurse nodded weakly. "Good. Let's head to the elevator. Good luck, Billy."

Rebecca dragged Rachel out of the room, stopping after she shut the door. What had she just done? Billy had always been her strongest supporter during times like this. Even when they had parted in the woods, she'd used her memories of him to help her through difficult moments. His image had been in her head when she pushed through the mansion, when she was plowing through medical school and even when she was struggling with her residency. She had wanted to tell him that earlier, before the phone rang and her life was thrown into chaos once again. Now she feared she never would.

"What's gotten into me, Rachel?" she asked the nurse, smiling weakly.

"I-I don't know. But I want to get out of here. Is that even possible?" She was still visibly shaking. Rebecca felt bad for her friend. Despite Rachel's playful nature, she'd always had a bit of a tough edge to her. She needed to be. It was hard enough to keep some patients in their beds or on their medications. It was even more difficult dealing with the families. Rachel had no trouble in handling situations with people. But this fell into a completely different category. No one could be properly trained for this.

Rebecca tried to focus on the task at hand. There would be time later to dwell on the situation. At least she hoped there would be. "Rachel, I need you to be strong for me. Just follow my lead and do what I tell you. If anything happens, find a safe room and wait for help to come. Got that?"

"Mmhmm." Rachel nodded her head. She looked unconvinced.

"Alright. Lets move."

All of her S.T.A.R.S. training kicked in as she made her way back to the lobby. Gun in hand, she stuck to the walls and walked slowly, watching for any signs of movement. The only thing she could hear was Rachel's labored breathing behind her. The tension was choking both of them. Rebecca said a silent prayer that nothing else would go wrong.

There was a crunching sound in the lobby as they reached the doorway, and she knew her prayer had gone unanswered.

One of the monsters was crewing on a body. A snap cracked in the air as it broke a bone. Rebecca tasted bile. Behind her, Rachel, grabbed onto the doctor's jacket and held it in a death grip, burying her face in the fabric. At least she couldn't see what was going on. It might have knocked her out cold.

The creature's body was blocking the entire pathway through the lobby. Its back was to them, but Rebecca knew that any sound would bring them to its attention. There was a foul odor in the air, a combination of disinfectant and rotting flesh. Odd, she thought. Then she heard a sizzling sound. It was the pus was dripping from an unseen orifice on the monster's body. She wondered, briefly, if that was just an additional defense mechanism or something that could be exploited. She hadn't thought about testing it out earlier. She'd been scared enough to see that it put holes in the floor.

Her brain went into overdrive as she processed the scene. Their only way out was past the creature. They would need to distract it somehow. "Rachel, do you have your keys on you?" Rebecca hissed over her shoulder.

"Why?'

"I need to use them."

Rachel picked up her head and stared at Rebecca. She could see that the nurse had been crying silently. "Y-You're not gonna attack that thing, are you?"

"No. I have a different idea. As soon as I use them, I need to you follow me as quietly as you can. Ok?"

Rachel dug into her pocket and shoved a key ring in Rebecca's hand. Crouching down, she took a step forward and tossed in into the far corner. The rattling startled the monster. It jerked its head up and lunged towards the sound, frantically searching for whatever made it. "Stay low and quiet," Rebecca whispered. She hurried towards the front desk with Rachel right behind her. They only had a few seconds. They made it halfway across. She never took her eyes off of the monster. Any second now, it would give up its search and go back to its meal. They were almost there. Only a few more steps to go and they'd be home free.

There was a grunt behind her as Rachel tripped. Before Rebecca could help her to her feet, the nurse let out a strangled cry. Between them was the partially chewed up head of the receptionist.

The monster let out a roar. The keys had been forgotten.

"Get down!" Rebecca shouted as she drew her gun up and fired. It ignored the bullets piercing its skin as it rushed towards them. Rachel screamed as it dove forward. Rebecca barely had enough time to push her out of the way before it landed between them. The severed head popped under its weight.

One of its arms lashed out towards Rebecca. She dove out of the way. Her arm burned as she got back to her feet. She glanced down and saw multiple holes in her jacket, right where the burns were. The arm had missed her, but the pus had still splattered and landed on her sleeve. At least it hadn't burned through the skin…yet.

She rolled under it again as it made another dive, managing to put two bullets in its belly before it landed. The monster roared in pain and tried to grab her again. Taking aim, she emptied the rest of her clip into its hand, sending bits of skin and bone and blood sprawling across the floor. The room shook as it howled.

Before she could reload her gun, it whipped its other arm around and caught her in the shoulder. Rachel screamed as Rebecca slid across the floor. Within seconds the doctor was pinned under its weight. Her shoulders were on fire. "Rachel!" Rebecca screamed. "Get out of here!" The monster roared in her face, spraying her with blood and saliva. She tried kicking it with her feet. It was no use. She couldn't move.

Something clicked behind them. "Hey, asshole!"

It was a man's voice. His voice.

The G-Type turned its head but kept Rebecca firmly planted on the ground. She knew it wouldn't matter. She managed to shut her eyes the same time Billy pulled the trigger. The monster screamed in agony. It loosened its grip on her for a second. It was enough. She quickly rolled to the side before it could regain control over her.

"Rebecca!" Rachel shouted, cowering behind Billy. "Its still behind you!"

"No kidding!" She looked up and made eye contact with Billy, who just nodded. His shotgun was pointed directly at her. His plan was instantly recognizable. It was just like back in the train. She knew immediately what he planned on doing, knew that she would only have a fraction of a second to follow through or she'd be dead. It had worked before. They had to make it work now.

She stayed in place and listened. The creature was slowly getting closer. Its smell grew stronger. Soon she could feel the temperature change as it inched forward. Her eyes stayed trained on Billy's face.

His finger twitched on the trigger and his head jerked towards the right. She immediately rolled away. There was a crack, then another scream. Rebecca scrambled to her feet in time to see the giant bulge on the monster's arm explode into a bloody mess.

"Got a light?" she shouted in Billy's direction. His gun was still aimed at the creature, but his eyes were facing her. "I have an idea."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a lighter, tossing it to her. "What's the plan?"

"I need to get close to its arm. Knock it to the ground. I'll do the rest."

"Got it." Rebecca waited until he began firing to ease behind the action. Billy launched into his usual tirade of insults to keep it distracted. As she moved, she pulled out one of the spray cans they'd found and readied the lighter. She hadn't noticed that smell earlier when that other G-Type had grabbed her. If the pus was anything to go by, there was a chance they could bring this one down without wasting their bullets. But she needed to be close to where the pus was secreting. If this didn't work, her chances of backing away quick enough were zero.

She held her breath as she finally made it within firing range. Slowly, she lifted her hand and stuck her thumb in the air.

Billy's gun fired once. The monster fell to one knee as its leg shattered. The gun fired again. The other leg was reduced to a stump. Rebecca held up the spray can in one hand and the lighter underneath it.

The room shook from the G-Type's roaring. Rebecca ducked under one of its arms as it flailed its body around, trying to put out the fire, but she maintained her footing and her aim. Time seemed to stand still. She didn't know how long it took before it started to quiet down, sinking to the ground, finally succumbing to the bullets and the acid and the flames. Then something bubbled up from under its skin, popped, and oozed out onto the floor. After a moment, only the sizzling of the acid could be heard in the lobby.

Rachel immediately burst into tears after Rebecca lowered her hands. "Oh my God," she sobbed, not even bothering to wipe her eyes. "W-What the h-hell, Becca? You almost d-died!"

"Rebecca, are you alright?" Billy asked. He hadn't moved expect to lower his gun to his side.

She dropped the empty can on the floor and pushed her jacket off of her shoulder with her free hand. Deep purple bruises were forming where she had been pinned to the floor. It could have been a lot worse. "I'll live," she said. "What about you? Are you hurt?"

He grunted. "I wasn't the one being tossed around the room. What were you thinking, leaving on your own? Rachel's right, you could've been killed."

"I didn't have very many options," she snapped. "You didn't seem very eager to tag along back there. I don't drag people along that don't want to be saved." This bitter arguing was starting to get to her. What was happening to her? She'd never been this…angry with someone before. Well, Wesker had probably made her more furious, but she'd never gotten the chance to duke it out with him face to face. But Billy wasn't Wesker. He'd never done anything to purposely harm her.

Something had happened to him today. He was like a wild animal that had been cornered. And all she was doing was pushing him further back.

Billy opened his mouth to say something but stopped when Rachel grabbed his leg. "No more fighting!" He and Rebecca both stared at her. "We need to stop this. Look, I-I don't know what you guys when through before, but you need to stop bickering and work together. Its like you can read each other's minds or something. We won't survive if we split up again. Just…fight about it later, ok?" She bit her cheek and looked down, tears still trailing down her face.

Rebecca sighed. Rachel was right. They'd be much more likely to talk when they were out of danger. She couldn't deny that they worked well together either. Billy's eyes held the same thoughts. "Thanks, Rachel. I must really be stressed if I needed that reminder."

Billy held out his hand to help the nurse to her feet. She had to grab the splintered desk behind her to stay steady. "How did you know to use fire?" Billy asked, glancing over at Rebecca. "Its not like Umbrella to give their monsters an obvious weakness."

"It was the pus. I didn't notice it earlier. This time, though, I could smell it when we entered the lobby. It was like a combination of a typical zombie and a cleaning solution. Fire usually works well for either stench. We found out that zombies char easily when we set them on fire, destroying everything their bodies need to stay alive. Most cleaning solutions are flammable around here. I'm not sure if that part of the smell comes from the hospital and it got into something like that or if its naturally secreted by the body, but fire seemed like a logical choice anyway."

"Well damn, Rebecca." He threw her one of his patented smirks. "How do you always manage to pull a solution out of nowhere?"

She didn't get the chance to answer.

There was a scraping sound behind her, like metal against metal. All three of them turned to the front doors. They were still sealed. The noise was coming from the other side.

"Did someone call the cops?" Rachel asked. "Do you think they're trying to break through the barrier?" Hope laced her tone.

Billy was frowning. "I doubt it. Nothing like this ever ends this easily."

"Yeah. It would be a nice change of pace though," Rebecca said dryly. She picked her way around the monster's remains and rejoined the group. They all watched, tense, as the scraping continued.

Something started banging against the door. Then again. And again. A large dent formed by the seal. There was a loud screeching sound as a crack began to form. Rebecca felt her blood go cold. Whatever it was had enough power to break through the barrier. Those doors were supposed to be strong enough to keep Tyrants out. But this wasn't a Tyrant. The crack grew wider, wide enough for an arm to reach through. It was coated in pus and slime, the fingers curled and warped into claws. A G-Type arm with strength beyond comprehension, from the looks of it. There was no telling what the body attached to it was like.

They watched as the arm pushed the doors further open until there was enough room for a body to pass through. "Think we can get rid of it before the rest of it fits?" Billy whispered.

Rebecca nodded. "Its worth trying-" She was cut off as the arm suddenly shot towards them like a rubber band. Rebecca screamed as it smacked her arm and tossed her to the ground. Billy managed to grab onto it only to be thrown against the back wall. Rachel tried to run away. The arm wrapped around her waist. "Rachel!" Rebecca got to her feet and ran after her friend. Rachel reached out as the monster pulled her across the floor. She cried out as she passed through the door. It was cut short by the barrier slamming back into place.

"No!" Rebecca smacked her hands against the dented metal. "Rachel!" It was no use. The door wasn't moving. "God, Billy!" She suddenly remembered the former marine. He was in a heap on the floor, a blood trail leading to him from where he had hit the wall. She ran towards him, fighting back tears. If he was dead…

She shook her head as she knelt next to him. If she started thinking like that, she'd never make it out of here. "Billy? Can you hear me?" She gently touched the back of his head. It was soaked with blood. She couldn't feel any broken bones. A blow that hard was enough to knock someone unconscious though, or to cause hemorrhaging. "Billy?" The corners of her eyes were prickling.

"Mmm…shit." He groaned and lifted his head. She resisted the urge to throw her arms around him. Or smack him for making her worry. "Re..Rebecca?"

"Thank God. Does anything else hurt besides your head?"

He put a hand over his wound, chuckling. "Just my pride. What…"

"Ssh. Stay quiet. Here, put some pressure where your hand is to slow the bleeding." She ripped a strip off of the bottom of her jacket and placed it under his palm. "Can you see straight? Does anything feel numb?"

"Christ, Rebecca. I'll be fine in a minute. What happened?"

"That monster…it dragged Rachel outside. I didn't get to her in time." She wiped her eyes to stem the flow that was threatening to start. "How did that thing open the doors? And why did it take Rachel?"

Billy made a grunting noise, pulling himself up into more of a sitting position. "Don't know. Something else has to be controlling it. There's no other reason for it to act differently."

"Now who's pulling solutions out of thin air?"

"Rebecca…" He reached his hand out towards her. She took it in her own and looked him over. "What about you? Are you hurt?"

She shrugged. His hand was warm in her own. "Its nothing I haven't dealt with before. I'm not the one with a head injury. Take a minute to get your bearings and I'll patch you up. There's no point in pushing forward if you're too weak to move on."

He removed his hand from hers and reached out towards her neck. She froze as he gently pushed the collar of her jacket off of her shoulder, revealing the bruises from before. "You should dress your own wounds, too. Heh, you're too delicate for shit like this."

"Knock it off." Rebecca busied herself with his head so he couldn't see her blushing. "You're not bleeding much anymore. I'll patch it up as best I can. Then whenever you're ready, we'll head upstairs."

He chuckled again. "I wish we could've gotten stuck in a hospital before. At least I got a cute doctor both times."

"B-Billy!" she stammered. She could tell he was smiling, but she wasn't going to give him the benefit of seeing her reaction. "Well I guess we've made up from earlier. I'm sorry about what I said. I didn't mean it. I just wish you would open up to me more. I don't like seeing you hurt, physically or emotionally."

"I'm the one who should be sorry. I've just gotten so used to hiding the truth, hiding who I really am from others. You didn't deserve anything I said, doll face." He grabbed her arm, pulling her away from his wound and back down to his level. With his other hand he wiped away some of the blood that dotted her left cheek. "Look, I meant what I said before, about doing whatever you want if we make it out of here. I'll tell you everything. I promise. If anyone deserves the truth, its you."

Rebecca saw the shields behind his eyes crumbling. It was like a feast after the famine. She would hold him to his promise. She suspected that, unlike last time, getting him to open up afterwards would be cake. "You mean 'when' we get out of here. Not 'if.'"

He smiled. "Of course. Now hurry up with this damn bandage. I'll feel better when we're up and moving."


	12. Chapter 12: Claire

A/N: I've put aside my copy of Splatterhouse to replay RE0 and RE:CV. Hopefully that'll keep me focused on this story. And many, many thanks to USWeasilgirl for her wonderful review!

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**Chapter 12 - Claire Redfield**

**Ally**

The base was sitting on the shelf opposite the door. Claire let out a long sigh of relief. "I guess something had to be easy," she mused aloud.

Before pocketing the base, she took a quick look around the storage room. It was almost a mirror image of the other supply room. The main difference was that this one was clearly designed more for actual storage instead of a place to mix up chemicals and vaccines. The walls were lined with shelves, cabinets and mini refrigerators. The right wall had a series of lockers, although none of them had locks on them. Curious, Claire opened up the first one.

The top shelf was loaded with handgun ammunition.

This couldn't be happening. There was no way she could have this much luck during an outbreak. In the past, she had been lucky to find a box or two of bullets along the way. Occasionally she came across heavier artillery. Never, in all her years of fighting Umbrella, had she found an entire locker full of ammo. This was truly a gift. She shut her eyes for a minute to make sure the image of all those boxes remained ingrained in her brain. She wanted to remember what it was like to get lucky.

"Okay, enough of that," she said to herself. Claire wasted no time in reloading her gun and stuffing spare bullets into every pocket she had. There was no telling when she would find anymore ammo in this place, or if she would find any at all. She lamented the fact that she didn't have a backpack with her. The extra bulk would have weighed her down though. At least she could carry some of it. Some bullets were better than none.

In spite of her luck, Claire couldn't help but marvel at the kind of person who would stow handgun ammo away in a hospital locker. Sure this was a prime hunting area. It had been that way long before the Raccoon City incident. The wooded areas surrounding the town were a haven for nature lovers. It made more sense that a place like this would have ammunition than some of the other locations she'd found it in. It didn't make that much more sense though. This was still a hospital, not a shooting range.

Claire mentally slapped herself. What the heck was she doing? Complaining about circumstances wasn't going to get the antidote to Greg any faster. If anything, she should be on her knees praying to whatever deity existed for making the Stoneville Hospital staff members paranoid enough to keep bullets in their lockers.

The floor shook as another roar ripped through the hallway. It made her blood freeze over. He luck was quickly draining. She slowly and carefully stepped towards the door and listened. There was a shuffling sound nearby. Another G-Type was close. Claire made herself go rigid, steadying her breath so the monster wouldn't hear her if it was right outside the door. A shadow moved across the floor at her feet, hovering for a few seconds before disappearing. There were a couple of squeals as the G-Type trampled over a few embryos. Then there was silence.

Claire eased the door open, cringing as it creaked a little. There was no sign of the monster beyond the slime trail it had left. She hoped it was headed in the opposite direction. The last one had been hard enough to destroy in these cramped, sticky hallways. There was no reason to attempt fighting another one if she didn't have to.

After making sure her ammo and supplies were secured, she took a few steps back and darted into the hall. The embryos seemed less anxious to attack her this time around. A few of them jumped at her as she slid across the floor. For the most part, though, they remained in place. Claire didn't know if she should be comforted by their lack of effort or concerned by it.

Another roar echoed down the hall, knocking her off balance. The slugs squealed and darted away.

She had her answer.

Claire managed to grab a door handle and pulled herself towards the wall as a claw flew by her head. It missed her face by an inch. She grabbed her loaded gun and fired at the massive hand. The monster roared in pain and withdrew its claw. A few seconds ticked by. She looked around the corner, being careful not to leave herself open to attack. Its head had sunken almost completely into its torso. One arm nursed the other, an eyeball frantically searching for the culprit from the right shoulder. Pus dripped from where Claire had injured it.

She wanted to scream in frustration. The G-Type was completely blocking her exit. The only other way was to retrace her steps and go around it. The possibility of other monsters on this floor was too great for her to risk that route though. She had no way of knowing if this one was the same creature that she heard earlier. Her gut told her that the monster she was staring at had friends nearby. It made sense. There were plenty of patients on this floor. That meant there were plenty of possible candidates for mutation.

Claire weighed her options as the G-Type turned around, still looking for her. She could pump it full of lead now that she had the ammo. If she could sneak up behind it, there was a chance she could melt it again. Both of those would likely alert other monsters in the area. Her other choice was to wait it out. If it continued to wander in the opposite direction, she could make her move after it left the area. She didn't like the idea of sitting around in the open. But it was the least likely to cause injury, and she really didn't need another setback.

The G-Type took a step in the opposite direction. She held her breath as it slowly, slowly moved away from her. Carefully and quietly, she got to her feet and gripped her gun in both hands. Just a few more steps and she would be home free.

A slug above her head squealed and dropped to the floor.

Claire cursed as her luck ran dry.

It whipped its injured arm around behind it, barely missing Claire again. The claws raked across the wall. The scraping sent a shiver down her spine. The remaining G-Type slugs squealed and scattered completely, leaving Claire alone with a fully mutated killing machine just a few feet away.

The monster turned and roared. Claire responded with two rounds to its massive eye. It howled in pain, sending eye goo, blood and acidic pus in all directions. The injured arm retracted to protect the socket. Claire prepared to fire again as soon as she had an opening, praying that it would be distracted enough to let her slip by and get a better shot.

A tremor wracked its body. It dropped to its hands and knees, growling. Blood pooled on the floor beneath it. There was a loud crack, then another, and Claire was forced to rethink her strategy. She watched in horror as the monster mutated into something even more twisted and unimaginable. The mutilated eye socket sunk back into its shoulder, replaced by a third arm complete with a mangled, clawed hand. A fourth arm shot out of the opposite shoulder. The monster's head sunk into its chest until only its eyes were visible. With one final cry, it arched its back as several sharp barbs broke through the skin along its spine.

_Well_, Claire thought, _at least it didn't get any bigger_.

The G-Type wasted no time in sending Claire to the floor. The two new arms lurched forward, forcing her to roll backwards and dodge its poisonous claws. Both hands found a home in the tile where she had been standing. The smell of burning acid filled her nose. She clambered to her feet only to be forced away again by the third good arm. This was going nowhere. She needed to get around it, but its latest mutation was making that impossible. If she could find a few seconds to shoot out one of its limbs, she would have a chance to run beneath it.

Then she noticed something. Even with the addition of two arms, the mutation hadn't healed the hand she'd injured before.

Claire dared to feel a tinge of relief. Now she had a plan.

The monster dislodged its new claws and prepared for a new attack. The third arm swung like a pendulum near its knees on the right side. The injured arm hung limp next to it, completely useless.

She needed to time this perfectly. Otherwise she'd be sushi.

With a mighty swing, the G-Type threw its new right arm right at Claire's head. She ducked at the last minute, charging towards the monster. Then left arm whipped around her head. She felt it pass through her hair but miss the rest of her. It roared in anger. The floor shook as she ran closer. Sweat ran down her forehead as she mentally calculated her next move.

The last good arm charged at her head. As she prepared to duck underneath it, the creature dropped it and caught her ankle. Claire threw her arms in front of her as the rest of the swing missed her. She tucked her legs against her stomach. There was a blur of green and grey and a trickle of something gooey hit her arm.

As soon as the roll was complete she jumped to her feet. She'd cleared the monster. Barely. Now she needed to turn again and truck it. One of its claws was still stuck in the wall and gave her the perfect distraction.

A sharp pain rushed up her leg as she twisted around to run. Claire cursed inwardly as she fell back to the ground. Her ankle throbbed with pain. That last claw had hit her with just enough force to tweak it.

She struggled to get back to her feet. The monster had recovered and was turning back towards her. There was no avoiding it now. She needed firepower. Fumbling at her belt, she grabbed her gun while scuttling backwards. The first round hit its right shoulder. The second and third found homes in its neck. It shrugged off its injuries and kept moving forward. Claire continued to fire. Nothing seemed to be working. The last bullet in her clip struck it square in the face. It might as well have missed. One hand went up to protect its face. The other two reached out to throttle her.

Something cracked behind her. Claire felt the blood drain from her face as she backed into something solid. And warm. It seemed like another G-Type had found her.

The air above her grew hot, forcing her to look up. A line of fire shot straight towards the monster just inches from her hair. She couldn't make out what was creating the fire. She did, however, notice that whatever made it was connected to a human arm.

The screeching of the monster in front of her drew her attention back to her adversary. It was a mirror image to her last battle. Within minutes, it had evaporated into a pile of ash and blood.

It took her a second to collect herself. The immediate danger appeared over. She was shaken and needed a place a wipe all of the slime off, but the only injury seemed to be her ankle. She gingerly moved into a crouch and tested her balance. It was tender, probably swollen, but she could stand without much difficulty. It was another lucky break.

Claire then remembered her mysterious savior. "Hey, thanks, that was-" She turned in time to see the bottom of a black jacket disappear around the corner. "Wait!" She gave chase, wincing as she put pressure on her ankle. The figure was quick and put considerable distance between them in a matter of seconds. "Where are you going?" Claire shouted.

She was so set on catching him that she almost ran right past the broken window. She skidded to a halt, biting her lip as pain shot up her leg again. Despite the darkness, she could see the outline of a man running away from the hospital. His body was covered by a black trench coat, brown hair barely visible atop the collar. It had to be the same guy. But as Claire took in her surroundings, she could tell something was off. She was still on the second floor, meaning he had to jump two stories in order to get out. The window was shattered and the metal door that covered it during lockdown had been ripped open. Something with Herculean strength had broken through the barrier.

For the first time since starting the trek upstairs, she genuinely smiled. It didn't matter what opened the window. There was an escape route. Claire silently thanked whatever had destroyed the metal sheet. She had to hurry. The vaccine still had to be made and administered before they could get out of the hospital.

Thankfully, the storage room was still untouched. She let out a long sigh when she realized that the base, which she had completely forgotten about during the struggle, was still intact. With all the parts together, she combined everything into the synthesis machine and loaded the base. Two button presses later and the vaccine was on its way to completion.

Claire took the opportunity to check her injured ankle. It was swollen, probably a mild sprain. She counted herself lucky that she could still walk on it with minimal problems. Maybe Doctor Chambers could look at it later if everything went to plan. Until then, she would have to treat it herself. She counted her blessings again at being stuck in a hospital.

One of the cabinets contained some bandages and anti inflammatory medication. A cooler had some ice packs. While the machine worked, she took some of the pills and iced her ankle until some of the swelling had gone down. She soaked one of the bandages in some antiseptic and wrapped her foot. Then she covered it with a dry bandage. She had no way of knowing if her ankle was scratched and if any slime or pus had seeped into her skin, and she was taking no chances.

She also reloaded her gun and checked over the rest of her stash. Her lighter was still working, her medical supplies were still stocked and she'd managed to keep her ammunition use to a minimum. All things considered, she was doing remarkably well.

There was only one thing left. She pulled out her cell and dialed Brett's number. There was no word from Leon yet.

Brett picked up halfway through the first ring. "Claire! Thank God. How's the vaccine coming?"

"Its in the machine right now. How's Greg doing?" He groaned on the other end. "Not good. He's been mumbling nonsense for the past few minutes. His skin's turning really green. How much longer do you think you'll be?" The fear in his voice was obvious. Claire sympathized with him.

"It should only be another minute. I'm making a large batch in case we need it. We can give some to the doctor, too. I've also found a way out, but I'm not sure how long it'll be around. There's no way of knowing if this system repairs itself."

"Let's hope it doesn't. Hurry back."

"Will do. Hang in there." Claire hung up as the machine beeped. She watched the hatch open, revealing an entire beaker of the lifesaving antigen. For a second, she allowed herself to hope.

She busied herself with gathering syringes and vials and filling them with the antidote. Her heart was racing. There was something unnerving about holding a medicine like this in her hands and knowing what it could mean for everyone's survival. She said a silent prayer that it would work for Greg. If Doctor Chambers was right, he should still have some time before the mutation started. She wondered if the good doctor had ever needed to use this machine for the T-Virus.

Claire realized that something about the woman was bothering her. Earlier, she had wondered why the doctor had seemed so calm with all this chaos going on in her hospital. She'd chalked it up to her dealing with trauma emergencies all the time. But the more she thought about it, the more it annoyed her. Even seasoned professionals would have trouble with something like this.

In her opinion, no one could be this unconcerned about an outbreak unless they had been in one before. Claire thought that was impossible. She knew all of the survivors from the other tragedies. Some of them had been with her, others had been rescued or fought alongside her brother and his friends. How Doctor Chambers could be so familiar with this situation was beyond her.

She put the jump drive back in the computer on a hunch. Both she and her brother had kept detailed records of known outbreak survivors. Maybe she could find out if the doctor was listed under a different name. It would have helped if she knew her first name.

_Wait_, Claire thought. That other man, Billy, he knew it. Rebecca. She was sure of it. Now that she thought about it, Billy had mentioned something earlier about seeing all of this before. He and Rebecca also seemed to be moving in a choreographed manner, like they had been through all of this before. She needed to do some digging among the files.

She typed 'Rebecca Chambers' into the database and crossed her fingers.

And there is was. Claire felt stupid for not making the connection earlier.

**Name: Rebecca Chambers**

**Occupation: S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team Field Medic**

**Status: Alive**

**Outbreak: Raccoon Forest, Spencer Mansion**

**Details: Officer Chambers is the only surviving member of the Bravo Team after crashing in the Raccoon Forest during the initial outbreak. She met up with members of the Alpha Team in the Spencer Estate, escaping with other survivors after successfully detonating the mansion. She resigned from S.T.A.R.S. shortly after returning to Raccoon City. Her current whereabouts are unknown.**

**Additional Details: Chambers was responsible for closing the case of escaped convict Billy Coen during the initial outbreak after coming across his body and halting the spread of the T-Virus.**

Claire was speechless. Doctor Chambers had not only survived the first Umbrella outbreak but had been an instrumental force in containing it in the forest. She was trained in combat and medicine. Even if she'd never synthesized a T-Virus antidote before, she knew enough about the symptoms to be able to act fast. The true speed with which this outbreak had moved now came into focus. Rebecca certainly would have noticed something like this taking over the hospital if the progression had been slow. The incidents must have started earlier that day.

She was confused, however, about the note on Billy Coen. Rebecca's file stated that he was dead and touted her as a hero. But she'd seen him in the lobby. She'd talked to him. Hell, he'd helped to save everyone's lives when the chaos started. Obviously he was as alive as the rest of them.

Doctor Chambers must have fabricated her report after returning to the city. Claire could understand why she acted that way as the pieces began to come together. The two of them must have run into each other in the forest and teamed up to survive. It made sense. Billy could have his freedom and Rebecca could finish what her teammates had set out to do. The pair's coordination and undaunted rush into the situation was clear now.

Claire powered the computer down and pocketed her items. There wasn't any time to dwell on what might have happened to Rebecca and Billy. She had to save her own companions first. Then she could meet up with the others and get the truth.

She checked the clock one last time before heading to the door and sneaking back into the hallway. She had to get to Greg before another G-Type was set loose in the hospital. Rebecca and Billy would be fine, especially if they had been through this all before. Satisfied, she headed towards the elevator. She needed to stop thinking so much. There would be time for it later. Claire wished her companions upstairs luck and set out once again.


	13. Chapter 13: Rebecca

A/N: I took a couple pot-shots at the RE universe in this chapter. While I can take a lot of things at face value in the series, I despise the long explanatory speeches that the villains almost always launch into. I actually got up and made a sandwich during a Morpheus lecture while playing Dead Aim once. There are actually a couple of these low-blows scattered throughout the story. Humor goes a long way in the middle of an outbreak.

Thanks to everyone who read the last chapter and made my story a member of your Favorites list. Cookies for all of you! And please leave a review if you've got the time. It only takes a few seconds and really makes me feel all happy and junk. Plus if I know people really dig the story, I have more motivation to get chapters up sooner. Now, enough with the shameless begging for attention. On to the bantering and plot holes!

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**Chapter 13 - Rebecca Chambers**

**A Way Out**

"I guess my future modeling career's a bust." Billy was leaning against the elevator wall near the panel, one elbow resting on his shotgun. He gently touched the spot on his forehead where he had been burned earlier. "Christ, this still stings."

"I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to properly treat that," Rebecca said. She was busy rubbing some salve into her bruises. Tears prickled at the corners of her eyes. They were deeper than she realized.

Billy waved her apology off. "Forget it. Its not like my mug's gonna be all over the news anyway. I'm a dead man."

He attempted a smirk. Rebecca saw right through it. "Billy, we both knew the risk when…"

"Yeah, yeah I know. Besides, its not like I've been completely useless as a fugitive. I'm still hunting zombies and shit. But…" He trailed off, staring at the ground. "I miss real freedom. I knew that going underground was the only way to survive. But constantly looking over your shoulder, never being able to spend more than five minutes in public, that's not being free. It's harder than I thought."

"Remind me to hit you over the head next time we argue. Otherwise you'll never tell me anything."

Billy chuckled. "And you accuse me of ruining moments," he said.

Rebecca shrugged, pushing the memory of their earlier fight towards the back of her mind. If it was anyone else, emotions would still have been raw. She certainly wouldn't have been joking with someone else at a time like this after such a blowup. It was a testament to their relationship that they were able to put their differences aside.

"So how come I've never seen you around here before?"

His question caught her off guard. "Huh?"

"You said you've been here for a while now, working as a doctor. I've never seen you wandering around town. How'd you manage to slip under my radar?"

Rebecca could feel her cheeks burning. He had to have noticed her reaction to his teasing by now. Either the man was blind or he enjoyed it in secret. "W-Well, its not like you spend a lot of time here."

"I'm a former Marine, dear. I know how to find people, and I always recognize a face."

"Guess I'm a special case then."

"You're cute when you blush."

_Guess he has noticed_, she thought. "Knock it off, Coen."

His retort was cut off by the beeping of the elevator. They both grabbed their weapons and shifted towards the door as they slowed to a stop. Something was growling on the other side. Billy nodded to Rebecca, his mouth set in a grim line. "Which way?"

"Straight ahead."

He aimed his gun at the doors. "Good. I like an easy route."

The elevator dinged and opened. Two monstrous G-Types were waiting to greet them. "Sorry, this elevator's going down," Billy quipped. One of them opened its mouth in a grotesque roar. He promptly ripped it apart with two shots to the throat.

Rebecca ducked as one of them tried to swipe her head off. She could see the door to the control room at the other end of the hall. If she could get behind them and make a run for it, she'd be able to clear a path for Billy and get them both to safety. But first, she needed to squeeze between them.

"What's the plan?" Billy asked over the blasting of gunfire and cries of the monsters. "I don't like fighting in a box hanging from a wimpy little cable!"

"We need to get around them. Can you distract them long enough for me to get to the other side?"

His eyes dropped to the creatures' feet. "There," he said, pointing to the tiny gap between them. "Can you fit through there?"

It was a long shot. The G-Types were too top heavy to be able to lean down and grab her if she tried it. But there was no guarantee that they wouldn't stomp her head into oblivion or get a shot at her with their claws during the attempt. She could try and set them ablaze where she was. The risk of herself or Billy getting burned was too great though. She didn't relish the thought of accidentally making the elevator collapse either.

"Do it," she said, dropping to her knees. "When you see your opening, take it."

"Got it."

Rebecca covered Billy while he reloaded, pelting the monsters with chemicals, spray, a few bullets and anything else she could find in her pockets. He cocked his gun a few seconds later and landed a perfect shot to one creature's eye. It shrieked in pain. The other one, confused, caught bullet to the same location on its own face. They moved apart.

Without hesitation, Rebecca lunged forward and dove between them. Even from the floor, their stench was nauseating. Her nostrils burned and her eyes watered.

She tucked her head down and rolled along the floor, returning her focus to her surroundings. Billy was still pouring buckshot into the G-Types. They were returning the favor by attempting to tear apart both his head and the elevator. She had to act fast. There was no way he could fit between them like she had. The poor guy had already been beaten up pretty badly. The last thing he needed was to have his face smashed in by a random limb. Think, Rebecca!

She suddenly recalled their earlier encounter, when Billy had taken out the creatures' knees to get her in closer. If she could at least stun one of them, he'd be able to get over their head. Praying that he hadn't lost his athletic abilities over the past decade, she grabbed her gun and took aim.

The right monster screeched as her bullet ripped through flesh, muscle and tendons. It fell to the ground immediately. The other, unable to get out of the way, was shoved into the wall and pinned by its comrade.

"Billy! Jump!"

Billy took two running strides and vaulted over the fallen G-Type, using the wall as leverage and barely missing a claw to the back. He didn't slow down once he reached Rebecca. "Come on!"

The pair bolted down the hallway, aware that the two monsters were likely to pursue them once untangled. Rebecca whipped out her ID card and swiped it as soon as they reached the door. "We need to block the door once we're in. I don't know how secure everything is."

"What if something worse is in there?" Billy asked, his shotgun pointed in the other direction.

Rebecca grimaced. She didn't want to think about that possibility. "We'll deal with it." The door opened. She grabbed Billy's arm and hauled him inside.

The control room itself would not have been out of place in an army bunker. The back wall was lined with monitors. Another, smaller set was on an adjacent wall. Even from a distance, Rebecca could tell that they didn't point to any part of the hospital. The rest of that wall contained computers and stacks of files. A set of lockers was opposite them. Billy nudged Rebecca and pointed to the wall behind them. An entire map of the hospital covered it. Lights marked each door and window. At the moment, all of them were red except for one, which was flashing green on the second floor.

"Kinda eerie," Billy mused. "You see one control room and apparently you've seen them all."

She shivered. He was completely right. Although she had known about this room, Rebecca had never been inside of it before. Doctor Engal had given her a brief explanation about its purpose and left it at that. She was relieved he hadn't given her a tour. It was like being back at the training facility and the underground labs. "This looks like Umbrella's handiwork."

"You think so? Don't they usually plaster their logo on everything?"

"Where else would this kind of technology have come from?" asked Rebecca. "Hospital security is one thing, but this," she waved her hand at the smaller monitors, "isn't something you usually find."

A soft moan cut off Billy's answer. They both drew their guns and inched towards the main control panel. There, barely sitting upright, was Doctor Engal. "Rebecca…" He reached out towards his colleague. She gasped. His hands and abdomen were soaked with blood. She didn't need to look at his wound to know what happened. Something had gutted the good doctor before he made it inside.

"I'm here," she said, taking his bloody hand in her own. There was no point in trying to give him false hope. "What do you need?"

He chuckled. Blood dripped from his mouth down his chin. "Always…the helpful one. Rebecca, listen…" He pointed to her gun, discarded on the floor next to her. "When I'm done, you need…you need to…"

She squeezed his hand gently. "I promise. But first we need to know how to reverse the lockdown."

He handed her a file. She scanned its contents while he explained what was going on. "When the mechanism was first…constructed, we built…we built underground tunnels to connect the hospital and the town hall. That way, people would…have a safe place if Raccoon City r-repeated itself. But I…I didn't know that the tunnels were being used, that the mayor was letting experiments take place underground. For years there was silence. So we…we shut down the mechanism.

"It was a nurse who noticed…. I realized too late that those em-embryos were using the tunnels to get outside. When Neil started getting worse, I…checked his symptoms against known Umbrella viruses. Then I made the connection. Those embryos…they attacked Neil and the others. I knew I had to reactivate th-the mechanism and seal the hospital. But everything went haywire when I tried to radio police. The controls are broken."

"But everything looks fine," Billy protested.

"If these aren't working, I would guess that…the town hall's mechanism was destroyed. They're…both connected. You need to use the tunnels and fix the t-town hall's panel to reverse the lockdown."

"How do we get down there?" Rebecca asked.

"Th-the key," he pointed towards the lockers behind her, "to those will also unlock the door to the tunnels. You need to…to go down into the basement storage room." He fumbled at his belt where his key ring was hanging. "The small one," he mumbled. She reached over and helped him unfasten it, taking a tiny key off of the ring before returning the rest to him.

"Hey Rebecca, check this out." Billy had turned his attention to the smaller batch of screens. "Are these the tunnels he was talking about?" he asked as she approached him.

The monitors all had different images of laboratory rooms and strange things hanging in giant tubes. "Well, they're definitely not showing anything in this hospital." Rebecca leaned in to get a closer look at one to her right. The camera was focused on two empty tubes. One had shattered completely, littering the ground around it with glass and wires. "That's strange. There's no evidence of water around this capsule. Just a bunch of glass. Whatever was in there left a long time ago."

"Probably some psychotic Umbrella leftover," Billy said. His tone was full of contempt. "Knowing us, we'll meet up with it later. Things like that don't wander too far away from home."

"I hope it doesn't catch up with the others." Rebecca turned her attention back to Doctor Engal. "Have you seen anything out of place wandering around the hospital?" she asked him. He pointed to a row of monitors in front of him. Most of them were empty. A couple showed G-Types wandering aimlessly down the corridors. Rebecca felt her mood lift considerably when she noticed one of the survivors in a locked storage room, fiddling around with the synthesis machine. "She made it."

A loud bang at the door startled the group. "Shit! The door!" Billy jumped up and pushed himself against the dented metal as a barricade. In their bid for freedom, they'd forgotten to strengthen the door. Now the two monsters were back, viciously clawing their way through to exact revenge. "We've gotta move, Rebecca!"

"At ease, my pets," came a female voice. The commotion instantly stopped. Billy kept himself pressed against the doors, his eyes darting back and forth in search of the woman. Rebecca, leaning protectively over her colleague, did the same.

All of the monitors on the main wall suddenly went dark, then relit to form a single image sprawled across them. A young woman stared back at the trio. Straight, blonde hair completely covered the left side of her face. Her only visible eye seemed to glow, the iris a strange mix of sunset colors. It didn't take anyone long to figure out that something was wrong with her.

"I apologize for their rudeness," she said. "They are anxious to help me out. It's a sweet gesture on their part. Don't you agree?"

"Who the hell are you?" Billy demanded. He straightened himself out but hovered near the door.

The woman giggled. "You're such a heathen. Is this how you treat every woman you come across, dear?"

Billy answered with a bullet into the monitor showing her forehead.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'. Now then, to business." She glanced down at Rebecca, who was trying desperately to place her. Even though the rest of her seemed fine, the doctor knew that an eye like that could only mean a viral infection. She went through everything she could remember about the viruses she knew and came up empty. The blonde seemed to sense this. "I believe my virus is something you haven't encountered before," she said to Rebecca.

"How…"

"You're very easy to read, child."

"Child?" Billy said angrily. "And what are you? Twenty?"

Rebecca put up a hand to quiet him. The woman on screen was unperturbed. "My age is unimportant. What is more vital is the choice I'm about to lay before you."

"Let me guess. Something about world dominance and that we have to come find you and submit or die a horrible painful death." Rebecca bit her lip to stifle a laugh. Either Billy was hamming it up to break the tension or he was naturally funny when royally pissed off. She made a note to ask him later.

For a brief moment, the other woman looked confused. "Are you finished babbling now, darling?" she asked after regaining her composure.

He waved a hand dismissively. "Just tell us where you are so we can get out of here."

"Your insolence is-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I've been through all this shit before, lady. I'd rather not listen to your plans for conquest or viral army or whatever shit plan you have lined up to destroy everything. I've been smacked around, burned, beaten and dragged all around this hospital and I'm not in a good mood." Billy pointed his gun at the screens and fired another round into the bridge of her nose, just to punctuate his point.

Her eye twitched in response. "Well then, I guess you'll be putting all of your hard earned experience to the test again. Come to the town hall when you're done fooling around. I'll leave you in the dark until then." She promptly vanished, leaving all of the screens in the room blank.

Rebecca turned to Billy, who was still scowling at the holes he'd left in the wall. "Crazy psychopathic bitch," he mumbled.

"Are you okay?" she asked. At this point, it wouldn't take much effort to set him off again. The last thing she needed was a bullet between her eyes.

He put his gun down and rubbed his forehead. "What is it with these kinds of people? They just show up out of nowhere, prattle on about pointless shit and then disappear. Marcus wasn't any different. Christ, I still hear his speeches in my sleep. I should've shot him the first time he launched into a monologue. Then maybe…"

Billy faltered, but Rebecca didn't need him to finish. She had the same nightmares he did. He likely went over their experience to try and figure out what they could've done differently as well, same as her. She stood and put a hand on his arm. He visibly relaxed. "What's done is done, Billy. All we can do is move forward. We managed to stop Marcus. We can do it again to this woman's plans, whatever they may be."

He took a deep breath and nodded. "You're right. Sorry for being such an ass."

"No worries. You just spoke the mind of everyone else in here." She smiled. "I really enjoyed your speech actually."

"I do what I can."

Doctor Engal began choking and flailed his arms madly around him. "No!" Rebecca rushed over only to be pulled back by Billy. "Doctor Engal!" she cried, hoping to reach him before he completely transformed.

It was no use. The pair watched, horrified, as he began the slow and painful process of becoming a G-Type. At the same time, the wild thrashing behind the door resumed.

Billy cursed again and reloaded his shotgun. "Can you do it?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"Can you shoot him? If not, back away."

She hesitated, then nodded. Billy turned his attention back to the door. Rebecca tried to hold back tears as she stared into her colleague's glassy eyes. These were the kinds of decisions she'd never learned about during her law enforcement or medical training. The focus had always been on saving lives. Taking them had always been reserved for people who didn't deserve to keep them.

Doctor Engal wasn't one of those people.

She pointed her gun at his face, a few tears escaping down her cheeks. "I'm sorry," she whispered, knowing that the last traces of humanity had already left her friend.

The sound of Doctor Engal's life ending was immediately overshadowed by the destruction of the door behind her.


	14. Chapter 14: Claire

A/N: This chapter is about two pages shorter than I wanted it to be, but things were starting to run a bit long so I cut it off and moved the last chunk over to chapter 16. (and that's what she said?) Buckets of thanks to my last round of reviewers, and a special thanks to my good buddy RaptorJ, who initially gave me a swift kick in the ass and told me to write this story. Now I'm getting another swift kick to write faster. Guess I won't be sitting for a few weeks…

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**Chapter 14 - Claire Redfield**

**Puppeteer**

Claire had witnessed a lot of horrific things in her life. People turning into zombies, children forced to shoot their parents, docile creatures transformed into twisted freaks of nature - it had all worn her down to the bone. She knew that the cruel parodies of humanity she dealt with would only continue the longer she remained with TerraSave. That was the core of the job description. It was supposed to help strengthen her resolve, to make her better able to handle situations like this one so she could help others in return.

Seeing Greg's deteriorated state was enough to make her question her future with her current employer.

She had only known the man for an hour or so, but watching him writhe on the floor in agony as the embryo tore through his body was among the more heart wrenching sights she'd ever come across. Huddled in the far corner, equally as pathetic looking, was Brett. His knees were drawn tightly into his chest, his eyes fixed on Greg. Fear was etched into his whole face.

"Claire!" Brett shot to his feet when he saw her. "I don't know what to do! He's…he's…well Jesus, just look at him!" He pressed his body against the back wall and pointed at Greg. His skin had taken on a green hue. Blood and slime oozed out of his mouth. "We need to get out of here. He's gonna mutate any second."

She shoved him out of the way, opening the door he had been blocking. "There's still a chance," she said, rifling through the cabinet. She pulled out a syringe. "We need to hold him down and inject the antigen into his body."

"Are you kidding me? I'm not going anywhere near him. One scratch and I'm done for!"

"Get a hold of yourself!" Claire screamed. It was bad enough that Greg was only a few minutes away from a very painful death. Having Brett freak out was only making this situation more difficult. She reached into her pocket and pulled out one vial of the antigen. "Look," she said, holding it up to Brett's face, "we have to work together here. I'll hold him if you want, but then you'll need to be the one to inject this. Either way, you'll have to man up."

He gaped at her. "And what'll you do if I start mutating? Huh?"

"Even if he scratches you, he's not going to turn you into a monster. Back in the hotel lobby, that G-Type put one of those embryos in his body. That means until the transformation is complete, he can't infect you. He has to be a fully fledged monster and force an embryo into your system."

Brett looked at the vial, then to Greg, then back to the vial. He let out a frustrated sigh. "Fine. I'll hold him down. He's been twitching like crazy since you left. I don't want him taking your head off or anything."

"Good." Claire carefully filled the syringe with the antidote and returned the vial to her pocket. "Ready?"

He nodded. The pair eased over to Greg's body. They waited until he had flipped himself onto his stomach. Brett was on top of him in an instant, pinning his arms and legs to the floor. Claire jabbed the needle into his neck. As soon as she finished they both backed away. "Please work," she whispered. Across from her, Brett had his fingers crossed on both hands.

Greg's body went limp. For a few long seconds, he remained motionless. Brett took a step forward and nudged him with his toe. "Is he…dead?" He pushed him again. "Is this supposed to happen?"

"I'm not sure," Claire admitted. "I've only given this thing to one other person and she was fine." She was afraid to admit that, with Greg's advanced state, it was a very strong possibility that he was dead.

"What does the antigen actually do?"

"It halts the progression of the virus or, if an embryo's been implanted, halts its growth."

"So it doesn't actually kill whatever's in him?"

Claire bit her lower lip. "No."

"Well isn't this a-" Brett was cut off by a loud moan from Greg's body. "Shit!" He threw himself against the wall as the older man began flopping around. "What the hell is going on?"

They watched in horror as Greg flipped himself onto his back. His eyes had rolled back into his head and his skin changed from the greenish tint to white. A strangled choking noise came from his throat. He began wildly clawing at his neck, his screams cut off by whatever was lodged in his airway. Dark, red blood was still trickling out of his mouth.

"What's wrong with him?" Brett shouted over Greg's gasping.

"I think he's choking!" Claire took a cautious step forward. "Greg, can you hear me?" He made no response. "Crap. Brett, I need you to-"

Greg's arm shot out and grabbed Claire's bad ankle. She screamed as she fell to the floor. Brett swore again and jumped on top of the hotel owner. It was all confusion and limbs flying and muffled chokes until Claire aimed a kick at Greg with her good foot, barely missing Brett's shoulder. The man grunted, a gargling sound coming from his mouth. She scooted backwards. Brett immediately backed away. "Let's not do that again," he shouted to her, nursing his left wrist.

Claire wasn't paying any attention. Her eyes were focused on Greg, who now had deep lacerations on his throat from clawing at it and from the scuffle. He was now on all fours, heaving uncontrollably. The blood from his cuts oozed out onto the floor slowly. Too slowly. It looked like there was something else coming out of his wounds.

"What the-" Brett was also staring at the man's throat. "Uh, Claire?" He didn't finish his question. She was thankful for that. There was no way to answer it anyway.

Greg moaned, tensed his shoulder and began vomiting slime. A lump appeared at the base of his throat. It inched up his neck as he spewed more gunk onto the floor. As soon as the protrusion disappeared past his jaw, he lowered his head to the floor and opened his mouth as wide as he could. One cough finally dislodged whatever had been choking him. Exhausted, he collapsed.

A partially formed pink embryo wiggled around in the puddle of goo. Claire blinked in surprise. It was almost a mirror image of the one that had crawled out of Brian Irons ten years ago.

She knew what it would become if she let it get away.

Ignoring the pain in her ankle, she stood and closed the distance between her and Greg in two strides. The embryo squealed as she squashed it under her good foot.

"Damn." Brett's voice was shaking a little. "What the hell was that thing?"

Claire busied herself with wiping the slime and guts off of her shoe onto some clean floor tiles. "That's what happens when a G-Virus embryo matures, or gets close to it in Greg's case. When a fully mutated monster implants an embryo into a host, one of two things can happen. An unrelated person will incubate the seed and then die when it leaves the host. Someone who's related, however, will change and adapt with the seed."

"What do you mean by 'related'?"

"That the person in question is genetically related to the monster."

Brett's face changed from confused to disgusted. "Who decided that creating this virus was a good idea? They shouldn't even be locked up. They should be shot."

"Don't worry. The guy responsible got a taste of his own medicine." Claire finished cleaning her shoe and knelt next to Greg, careful to avoid the mess. She gently touched his shoulder. "Greg? Can you hear me?" She could hear him breathing, which was a good sign, but his body was still limp. "Brett, help me turn him over." She pulled his arm away from the floor while Brett pulled the body towards him. The propped him up on his right side in case he still had debris in his throat.

He opened his eyes after a few seconds. "What…" Greg trailed off, coughing up blood and trying to catch his breath. "You…"

"Shh, don't try to talk," Claire said. "Your body's gone through some serious trauma. Can you sit up?"

Greg nodded weakly. Brett helped him into a sitting position, away from the remnants of his viral attack. While Claire busied herself with getting water and bandages, Brett found some paper towels and began wiping away the blood and gunk that coated Greg's face. The older man sat in silence. His eyes were glazed over, staring into space. But he was alive. At the moment, nothing else mattered.

The green tint to Greg's skin had faded by the time they finished cleaning him up. He also regained some of his energy and was able to walk over to a nearby cot. "What in God's name is happening?" he asked them.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Claire countered.

He rubbed his chin and thought back to their earlier meeting. "We were back at the hotel, fighting that…creature. Then I think it hit me. I remember a lot of pain. All I could see was red, and then black." He closed his eyes. "There was another woman, a doctor I think. She said something about transfusions and antidotes. The next thing I knew, I couldn't breathe." He opened his eyes again and looked at Claire, smiling. "Then I saw you, looking relieved. I knew I was still alive."

"Do you feel anything else inside you?" Brett asked.

Greg shook his head. "No. I just feel sore, like I just had a tough workout. What happened to me?"

Claire pulled one of the antigen vials out of her pocket and held it up. "You were attacked by one of Umbrella's bio-weapons, known as the G-Type. I had to inject this into your body to expel the embryo implanted inside you."

"H-How do you know about all this?"

Claire returned the vial and sat down next to Greg. "I was a part of the Raccoon City outbreak. During my escape, I was unfortunate enough to see the G-Type in action. I knew what it was capable of and that we had to act fast to save you. Luckily I still have the antigen file on hand."

"That's terrible! But it seems your experiences helped to save my life. I don't think a simple 'thank you' is going to cut it."

"Aww, isn't it nice to be thanked, Claire?" A female voice cut into the conversation.

Claire shot out of her seat in surprise. Brett ran to the door and peeked through the window. There was no one else in the room. "There's no one outside," Brett said. "Where the hell did that come from?"

"I don't know," said Claire. That voice…it had sounded like someone was right there with them. "Do you think it could've come through a speaker or something?"

Brett shook his head. "It didn't sound like it though."

A shrill laugh filled the room. "I don't need technology, dear."

"Where are you?" Claire shouted. "Show yourself!"

"My, aren't we demanding today," the voice said. "Your friends upstairs are also rather moody. I wonder why that is."

Claire's heart began to beat rapidly. Something wasn't right. Whoever this woman was knew what was going on. Claire could feel it. She had to keep her talking. "You released the monsters into the hospital."

There was a chuckle. "Observant as always. What do you think of their new design?"

"New design?"

"Surely you have noticed the subtle differences in this batch of G-Types. Or perhaps you don't remember what your last encounter with them was like. Shall I refresh your memory?"

"Claire, what's going on?" Brett was trying to maintain his composure, but the fear still blazed forth from his eyes.

A television in the corner lit up. The image of an eye filled the screen, the iris reminiscent of an evening sky. Reds, oranges and yellows swirled together in an unnatural way. A sign of viral infection.

"What do you want?" Claire asked. If they were dealing with some kind of monster, they would need to tread even more carefully. This woman had maintained some of her humanity by the sound of it. She also had the ability to talk to them through the hospital somehow. And if she knew about the G-Types wandering around and the survivors trying to escape upstairs, Claire knew that the woman likely had a hand in this outbreak.

The woman sighed. "Oh, Claire, how many times are you going to ask that question before you hear an answer you like? I know what you've been up to since Raccoon City fell. I know that you're trying to find some kind of meaning in what happened. Yet here we are, ten years later, and you still haven't figured out why the first outbreak happened. You have no idea how and why men could stoop so low as to destroy whole cities of innocents. What good would it do for me to answer you now?"

"The other outbreaks were caused by different people with different agendas. You seem to be the only driving force behind this one."

There was a moment of silence, then a chuckle. "Perhaps I haven't given you enough credit," the voice said. "Then again, I wouldn't have underestimated you if you had kept your promise."

"What?"

"Ten years seem to have erased all memories of those most important to you." Venom laced the woman's tone. "But I guess it doesn't matter. You'll remember soon enough. I'll make sure of that. In the meantime, you'd best find your friends and make sure they're still human."

"What did you do to them?" Claire shouted.

"Me? I haven't done anything. I cannot say the same for my creations." The image on the television disappeared, but the voice remained. "I shall be waiting for you all outside of the hospital. But let me leave you with a thought, Claire Redfield. You could have prevented all of this if you had just kept your promise."

The trio waited, frozen, for the voice to return. After a minute, Brett released the breath he had been holding. "Christ above, I thought we were viral bait for a second there. Claire, do you have any idea who that was?"

"No." She wracked her brain, trying to come up with any names she could think of or any promises she had made during the Raccoon City incident. Claire had found her brother and reunited with Leon. Everyone else she had known perished in the city when the bombs hit. The only other person she could think of was…. She shook her head. He had died protecting her. "I can't come up with anything."

"Sounds like she crawled out of the loony bin," Brett said. "Well, it's not like your name isn't attached to bioterrorism already. She probably found your name on a list of survivors or something. I think she's trying to mess with us."

"I hope so."

Brett peeked out of the window and down the hall. "Well, the coast is as clear as it's going to be. We should get upstairs and see if those other guys need help."

Claire stared at him. "I thought you didn't like them, especially Billy."

"I'd rather get out of here alive and if that man can help me, I'm all for it."

"It's amazing what near-death experiences can do for a man." Claire turned back to Greg. "Can you walk? You should still be safe in here if you don't think you can make it."

Greg squared his jaw and stood up. "I'm not going to let some monstrosity slow me down anymore. I'm with you two."

Brett nodded. "Alright then. Let's move."


	15. Chapter 15: Rebecca

A/N: I've received some complaints that I'm not doing a good job of making these mystery characters 'mysterious'. Guys, I'm not trying to. If you've played RE:0 or RE:CVX, you know exactly who I'm talking about. Please keep in mind that this story takes place ten years after the events of those games. People grow up and not everyone will recognize them.

Thanks as always to my readers and reviewers! You guys are my favorite people! (Cookies to those who pointed out my number goof in the last chapter. It's been fixed now.)

* * *

**Chapter 15 - Rebecca Chambers**

**Deadly Ally**

The room shook as the two G-Types ripped the doors off their hinges and threw them across the room. Billy immediately opened fire on the one closest to him. Rebecca, her vision still blurred by her tears, took aim at the other one. Neither monster seemed bothered by the gunfire. They had to find a way around them and down to the basement. Now.

"Rebecca!" Billy shouted, pumping rounds into the creatures that were descending upon him. "What're you waiting for?"

She caught one of them in the temple, making it stagger for a second. "Trying to find a way out!"

"Open the damn locker!"

The locker. She'd forgotten all about it. Doctor Engal hadn't told her what was inside, but he wouldn't have mentioned it if it wasn't important. She grabbed the key from inside her pocket and ran over to the locker. One click later and she threw the doors open.

He jaw dropped. "What the-"

"Shit!" Rebecca turned in time to see Billy narrowly miss a claw to his arm. He was having trouble holding them off. "Rebecca, get moving!"

"We can't use these!" she shouted back. Christ, what did Doctor Engal think they were going to be able to do with something like this? Was he trying to blow up the whole damn city?

Billy squeezed the trigger of his gun into one of the creatures' mouths, forcing it to stumble back into the other. It bought him enough time to run back to his partner. "What are you talking about? We-" He clamped his mouth shut as he finally realized what she was now holding in her hands. "What the hell is a hospital doing with a loaded grenade launcher?"

"I don't want to know. But we can't fire these in here. We'll turn this town into its very own crater."

There was a roar behind them. Both G-Types were back on their feet. Billy wrenched the gun out of Rebecca's hands and aimed at the approaching monsters. "You have ten seconds to tell me what kind of ammo is loaded in this thing before I fire it."

She blanched. "What?" The grim set of his mouth made her realize he was serious. Instead of arguing, she grabbed a container of grenades. "It says acid."

"Good enough," he said. Rebecca covered her head with her arms as he pulled the trigger. There was a bang, a screech, and then an explosion of viral bits and sizzling goop. The smell hit her nose immediately. "Jesus," Billy hissed. He dropped the launcher and fell to his knees, coughing and gagging uncontrollably.

Rebecca opened her eyes and looked around. The room was relatively intact. The floor where the monsters had been standing was now a giant black stain. Part of the control panel was smoking and a few of the monitors were completely destroyed. Other than that, everything was fine. "What the hell?" she whispered to herself as she looked around.

Billy's choking subsided and he rolled onto his back. "Christ," he wheezed. He looked over at Rebecca. "You okay?"

"Mmm." She sat frozen in place, starting at the black smudges and the destroyed monitors and the corpse of her boss dangling from his chair. Her body was completely numb. The nightmare was playing over and over again in her head, and she had no idea how to stop it.

Something warm touched her face. She jumped and turned towards its source. Billy ignored her, continuing to wipe debris and gunpowder from her cheek. She took in his scarred face, his bloodied fingers, and his pained grimace as he checked her over. Even with everything they had been through, past and present, he was still worried about her.

Rebecca didn't know she was crying until she saw his face change. "Don't go breaking down on me," he said hoarsely. She felt him wipe a tear away. "Rebecca…" He trailed off but kept his hand against her cheek. She couldn't take it anymore. The strength needed to hold it all in was gone. She knew that she looked pitiful, sobbing like a child in front of a former Marine. But she didn't care. This was too much for one person to bear.

Strong arms went around her shoulders and pulled her close. She didn't even have time to think about how shocking this act of kindness was. All she could do was grab his shirt and continue to cry into Billy's chest.

The two of them stayed like that for a while. Billy didn't say anything; he just held her and gently rubbed her back while she let everything out. This had been ten long years in the making, Rebecca realized. There hadn't been time back then. They had had to keep on the move or risk dying if they stopped. That one moment of respite, the minute they had to gaze upon their handiwork before duty forced her to return to the forest, had only been to catch their breaths. Those precious moments in Billy's cabin earlier that day had been a tease. Neither of them had been able to get over the shock of seeing each other. Then they had been thrown back into this.

Rebecca knew that they had to keep moving. The others needed help and Rachel was still missing. Yet she couldn't bring herself to move. Even after the crying ceased she stayed there, soaking Billy's warmth and strength into herself.

_I've needed this_, she thought to herself as she steadied her breathing. _I've needed someone who's been there and understands_. Billy had been her rock back then and he'd resumed his role now. He might tease her about this later, but she knew he would never judge her. She remembered their fight and suddenly felt horribly guilty. He had never wavered.

Someday when they weren't being chased by humanoid abominations, she'd have to tell him what he meant to her.

"Sorry," she said after a while. Billy loosened his arms but didn't remove them completely. Instead he let them slide down her arms so she could lean back. His face was still one of concern.

"Sorry for what?"

She wiped her eyes. "For losing it," she said. "I thought I was stronger than that."

"Rebecca, no one is expected to be strong all the time. You've lost good friends. Anyone else would've given up already. At least you can keep moving."

"But you've never broken down."

To her surprise, Billy chuckled. "I did once. You know what I've been through. The mission, the court martial, the betrayal, our last encounter - it's enough to break any man. But I've survived, and I know I can do it again. Besides, I haven't lost much of anything compared to you."

"But what about your friends? Or your family? What about your job and your freedom?"

"You gave me my freedom, remember? I can always find work. My family's moved on without me, and most of my friends were dead before this all started. Besides, I still have you. That's enough for me."

"B-Billy!" Rebecca tried to glare at him. He started laughing instead. "What's so funny?"

"You're cute when you're mad." Still smiling, he stood and offered her a hand. "C'mon, doll face. We have to get the others and find the nurse."

Rebecca got to her feet and grabbed the grenade launcher from the floor. "Might as well take this," she said. "If it couldn't destroy the control room, I doubt it'll take down the whole building." Billy nodded in agreement. While he reloaded the shotgun and their handguns, she rummaged through the locker for anything else they could use. There was a strap for the launcher so she could carry it on her shoulders, as well as a few cases of acid rounds. She decided to leave the case of flame grenades where it was. That would definitely bring the hospital down.

Billy snapped his gun shut and grinned. "Ready to go?"

Rebecca responded with a thumbs-up. "Let's move."

He led the way out of the room, his shotgun in hand. Rebecca followed him closely. The halls were eerily quiet. The only sounds they could hear were the beeping of monitors. That wasn't right. The crazy woman from earlier had sent her G-Types to hunt them down. There was no way that only a few of them made it.

"Where to?" Billy asked as they reached an intersection.

"Let's head to the elevator. That one girl was in the supply room, which means she's probably giving the infected man an antigen. We should try that room first."

Billy nodded and turned the corner. They had almost made it to their destination when a roar ripped through the silence. Both raised their guns in time to see a single monster appear before them. It roared again and charged the pair.

"Cake," Billy said smugly. He took aim at its mouth and prepared to pull the trigger.

The monster suddenly stopped and swiped at its head, screeching as loud as it could. Both of them dropped their weapons and covered their ears. They watched as the creature began to smoke, then bubble, and within seconds it had burst into flame. The emergency sprinklers came on to douse it, but the fire only grew larger. With one final, pitiful cry, it fell to its knees and melted into a pile of goo.

Another figure was standing behind it. Billy reached for his handgun. "Wait," Rebecca said, grabbing his arm. "He looks human."

The man stood there, one arm extended towards them. He lowered it as soon as the monster stopped smoking but continued to stare at them. Most of his body was covered with a long black trench coat. His brown hair was cropped just below the chin and covered most of the right side of his face. Rebecca squinted, trying to place him in the hospital.

Then she noticed his eyes. Even from the other end of the hall, she could tell that they were blood red.

"What the…Billy, look at his eyes."

Billy pushed Rebecca behind him and pointed his gun at the man. "What the hell are you?"

The man smirked. "Looks like I'm your knight in shining armor right now."

"Don't mess with me, kid."

He put his hands up in mock surrender. "Relax, man. I'm trying to save the survivors in the hospital. She's bent on turning you all into monsters, in case you haven't noticed."

Rebecca put a hand on Billy's arm and gently lowered it. "He's trying to help. Knock it off." He mumbled something but put the gun down. "Thanks for that," she said to the man. "How'd you kill it?"

"I have…special abilities, to put it mildly. I'm not proud of them, but it's the only thing that's kept me alive."

"You're infected."

He nodded. "With a virus you've never seen, doctor."

Billy snorted. "You've got some nerve, kid. Now tell us what's going on before I blow a hole through your head."

"I doubt you could, and that's not the point. You both need to get out of here. I can unlock one of the doors or windows long enough for you to escape. Get as far away from here as you can. If she finds you, you'll be dead within twenty-four hours."

"We can't leave yet," Rebecca said. "We have to find the others."

"Others?"

"There's three of them downstairs. One of them is infected, but the woman with them said she knew an antidote. If we leave, so do they."

The man cast his eyes downwards. His demeanor changed. It was as if he was suddenly ashamed of something. Rebecca, curious, took another step forward. Billy was close behind. They had almost reached him when he held up a hand to stop them. Up close, it was easier to see that he was infected. His skin was a pale green color. Veins bulged in his hands, making them look like claws. Rebecca also noticed fresh blood trickling down his right arm. "You're bleeding. Let me help you with that."

He snatched his hand away before she could grab it. "I wouldn't do that. My blood's pretty volatile."

"Volatile?"

"Flammable," he explained. "An effect of the virus. I have to be careful or I'll turn into a human torch."

"Cute," Billy spat. "So are you gonna help us get the others or not?"

"I can't."

Billy dropped his gun and pushed the man into the wall in one fluid motion. "We're a package deal. You help all of us or none of us. Your choice."

The man laughed weakly. "You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

"Billy, leave him alone. We're wasting too much time."

"No, you both should know."

Billy eased up on the other man but kept him pinned. "Talk."

"I was a victim of Umbrella's viruses, too. When I was a teenager, I was put in prison and left to fend for myself when the zombie outbreak happened. I was infected with a different virus and left to die. But…there was another with me. I wouldn't have survived without her. She tried to help me after my infection. But there was nothing she could do."

Billy backed away completely. "She's the one downstairs."

He nodded. "I saw her earlier. She didn't recognize me and I want to keep it that way. She'll be in more danger if she figures out what's going on." He hesitated a moment. "That woman you spoke with earlier, the blonde one, she's after the other group. You two weren't expected to survive."

"We never have been," said Billy.

Rebecca stepped between them. "We need to find the others before we do anything else. There's an escape route through the tunnels that we need to take. If you can't help us, then that's where we're going."

The man nodded. "Be careful. Just because the tunnels are underground doesn't mean they're safe."

Suddenly the floor shook and another roar tore through the building. "We've got to go!" Billy shouted. "Now!"

The man clutched at his chest and moaned, but waved the pair off when they reached out to help. "The others should be on the second floor by the large storage room," he said. "I broke a window to get in, but I don't think it's still open. The lockdown mechanism probably sealed it. You need to help them."

"What about you?"

He grinned at Rebecca. "I'll cover you. Get the others and head to the tunnels. I'll stay behind and make sure nothing follows you. Now go." He jumped up and ran down the hall, disappearing around a corner.

"What the hell just happened?" Billy was still staring at the spot where the man had run towards. "And what the hell kind of virus does he have?"

Rebecca shrugged. "I guess we'll have to find out later. But he's right; we need to find the others."

"Maybe Claire can tell us what that kid is."

"Claire?"

Billy nodded. "That redheaded woman. If she was with him-"

"He said he didn't want her to know about him," Rebecca interrupted. "Something bad probably happened between them. Plus if she's in the most danger and it has something to do with him, we have to help keep her safe."

"Fine," Billy said, "but if shit starts getting out of control, I'm saying something. I hate being unprepared."

"Fair enough. Now let's go. I know exactly what storage room he's talking about. And if I remember correctly, it's right by the stairs that lead to the tunnels."


End file.
